Pumpkin Booby-traps!

National Blog Posting Month – September 2014 – Crunch

Prompt – Pumpkin spiced flavoured everything: can’t get enough OR enough already!

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Oh pumpkin spice, how I love thee! Really. I simply adore pumpkin spice. So you’d think this time of year would fill me with glee.

But it doesn’t.

Here’s my problem. Pumpkin spice almost always goes hand-in-hand with cinnamon.

Cinnamon itself is a most wonderful substance. Unless, of course, you’re me.

I used to live on cinnamon. Cinnamon sticks. Cinnamon candies. Cinnamon oatmeal. Cinnamon bagels. Cinnamon rolls (OMG cinnamon rolls!).

Then, one day a little over a decade ago, something happened.

I reacted to cinnamon. My tongue swelled up. My gums and lips ached.

Over the years, the reaction has gotten worse. Now, if I smell cinnamon, I’ll react. My gums will start to itch. The Christmas section at Wal-Mart can be dangerous, what with all the scented candles.

A single sip of a pumpkin ale that was brewed with cinnamon will set me off.

It seems that nothing that is made with pumpkin spice is made without cinnamon.

At this time of year, all foods are potentially booby-trapped.

‘Oh, that’s not made with cinnamon,’ they say.

Yeah, whatever. Explain that to my itching teeth.

I love pumpkin spice. Muffins, donuts, lattes, everything. But I can’t eat most pumpkin spice items because they’re made with cinnamon.

That is, unless I make it myself. Watch this space. There’s a pumpkin ale brewing. And maybe I’ll do some baking. Maybe.