Pumpkin spice mac and cheese is a thing! Here's how to make it.

USA TODAY

Sept. 28, 2022Updated April 28, 2023, 3:20 p.m. ET

Whenever fall comes around, people across the United States fall in love with pumpkins. From the sweet to the savory, there's seemingly no dish or product that can't be enhanced by a healthy helping of pumpkin spice. Though it contains no pumpkin, this fragrant blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and allspice is indelibly linked with the familiar winter squash. It's undoubtedly the flavor of the season.

An autumnal trip around your local grocery store will reveal a dizzying array of goods infused with pumpkin spice, from the predictable to the bizarre. Pumpkin spice toothpaste, anyone?

Pumpkin spice is also a favorite ingredient of many homemade products. And, again, perhaps not always the ones you expect.

Watch the video to learn how to make pumpkin spice-flavored mac and cheese.

Why do we love pumpkin spice so much?

Psychologists believe our love for pumpkin spice is rooted in the emotions. Many people have learned to associate the smell and flavor of pumpkin spice with feelings of warmth, family, home, and nostalgia. And that Hallmark card image is directly linked to our sense of taste.

As Matt Johnson, a psychology professor at Hult International Business School in Boston and a lecturer at Harvard University, told the New York Post, "We are highly, highly visual creatures, but our sense of taste is one of our weakest senses. Our sense of taste is actually highly impressionable. We don't taste objectively — we almost 'hallucinate' with our taste buds."

And according to figures compiled by the advertising publication Ad Age, our "hallucinations" result in Americans spending at least $500 million on pumpkin spice-flavored items each year.

Do people in other countries eat pumpkins?

Pumpkin may seem like an all-American holiday tradition, but that's not the case. A report by the market intelligence platform, indexbox.com, found that China, India, and Russia are the biggest pumpkin fans, collectively accounting for 53% of global consumption.

Still, there's no doubt that pumpkin, particularly pumpkin spice, is an integral part of American culture. So, this fall, carve that Jack-o'-lantern, slice that pumpkin pie, and mix that pumpkin mac and cheese. It's the patriotic thing to do.

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Pumpkin spice mac and cheese is a thing! Here's how to make it.

Why do we love pumpkin spice so much?

Do people in other countries eat pumpkins?

Reviewed-approved kitchen and cooking recommendations:

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