![Tips From an Expert: Finding the Best Pumpkin Spice Latte](https://lakevillejournal.com/media-library/if-you-dont-find-a-commercially-produced-pumpkin-spice-latte-thats-to-your-liking-try-making-one-yourself-its-surprisingly.jpg?id=48216153&width=980&quality=90)
If you don’t find a commercially produced pumpkin spice latte that’s to your liking, try making one yourself. It’s surprisingly easy. Photo by Cynthia Hochswender
The arrival of the Pumpkin Spice Latte to the Starbucks menu has become a harbinger of autumn since 2004, when it was first released.
Now, more than 15 years later, almost every establishment that sells coffee in America has its own pumpkin spice latte recipe that it sells from late September through October.
The pumpkin spice latte, or “PSL” as it’s sometimes called, is a coffee drink that combines all the tastes you associate with pumpkin pie: pumpkin flavoring, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves.
Over the years I have become a connoisseur of all things pumpkin spice. I’ve taste-tested nearly every PSL product on the market — so you don’t have to.
The most famous, of course, is the one offered by Starbucks. Their version is classic and quite good — especially the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino (a cold, blended drink) and Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew (cold-brew coffee topped with sweet, pumpkin-flavored cream). These are menu items unique to Starbucks.
However, if you just want a classic hot, pumpkin spice latte, and if you don’t feel like driving for 45 minutes or more to get to a Starbucks, I would recommend getting one from McDonald’s or Dunkin’ Donuts. Brand snobs might argue otherwise, but the hot pumpkin spice latte from these three chains offer essentially the same experience. If you want a hit of caffeinated PSL this Pumpkin Spice Season, I don’t think you’d miss out by going to McD or Dunkin’ instead of Starbucks.
Cumberland Farms (which has filling station/convenience stores in Amenia, N.Y., Millerton, N.Y., Great Barrington, Mass., and Torrington, Conn.) has a make-your-own pumpkin spice latte syrup with their other coffee condiments, next to the milk, sugar and creamers. You can add as many shots of syrup as you’d like to your coffee for either a more subtle or a maximized version. Cumbies also offers a pumpkin cappuccino from its cappuccino machine that will be well-received by anyone with a sweet tooth.
There’s also a variety of pumpkin spice coffees and creamers you can buy at your grocery store, including non-dairy options. My favorites are the Pumpkin Spice Latte Cold Brew Coffee with Almond Milk by Califia, which has nice notes of cinnamon and nutmeg and is mild enough that you don’t feel like you’re drinking a dessert. I also like the Chameleon brand pumpkin spice oat milk latte, which is more spicy than sweet, differentiating it from many of the PSLs on the market.
If you’re not a coffee drinker, Harney & Sons tea company, based in Millerton, has a Pumpkin Spice Tea.
If you are staying homebound due to quarantine, we’ve found a recipe for a pumpkin spice latte that you can make yourself at home.
This is from the website www.sweetsteep.com; the recipe was developed by a woman whose daughter was a barista at Starbucks. We found it was easy to make and tasted just like the Starbucks PSL — or actually, a little bit better.
We happened to have a couple cans of Libby’s canned pumpkin in the pantry; when we went to the grocery store to pick up a few more cans we were surprised to find that none of the area grocery stores that we visited had any in stock.
The internet isn’t indicating that there is a canned pumpkin shortage this year, as there was in 2015. We were shopping in late September, so it’s possible that it was just a bit too early for the stores to be stocking it.
Some stores have the One-Pie brand of canned pumpkin, which gets high marks from users on the internet.
However, if you are unable to find canned pumpkin (and be sure you do not buy canned pumpkin pie mix, which already has spices added) there is still time to buy a baking or pie pumpkin at your local farm stand. Roast and puree the flesh, scoop it out of the shell and remove the seeds. Then be sure to puree the roasted flesh and then run it through a food mill. To give it more body, you can add roasted butternut squash or sweet potato; fresh pumpkin is always a little more stringy and watery than the canned version.
Pumpkin Spice Latte Syrup
Adapted from www.sweetsteep.com
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
One 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
You can buy premade pumpkin pie spice, but you probably have all the ingredients for it in your pantry already. Save yourself some money, and use up your spices before they start to lose their flavor.
Most of the spice recipes we found are variations on a few basic ingredients. The Martha Stewart recipe worked fine, but almost any other recipe will be just as good. Combine 3 tablespoons of ground cinnamon, 2 teaspoons of ground ginger, a teaspoon of ground nutmeg, a teaspoon of ground allspice and a half teaspoon of ground cloves. If you don’t have any allspice, don’t go out and buy some just for this.
To make the pumpkin spice latte syrup, first make a simple sugar by combining a half cup of water and a half cup of sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. The sugar will dissolve into the water and then begin to boil; when it does, turn the heat to low and add the pumpkin puree, the condensed milk, the pie spice and the salt. Stir them together for a couple minutes over low heat and then set the mix aside and let it cool.
Be sure that you use condensed milk, which is thick and sweet, and not evaporated milk or any other canned milk product. The two most common brands around here are Magnolia from Borden’s, which was made here in the Tri-state region for many years by the Borden family; and Eagle Brand (and actually, Eagle makes the Magnolia milk too).
When you’re ready to make a latte, you don’t have to use espresso, you can just make coffee (as strong or weak as you like). I use about two tablespoons of syrup for each normal-sized cup of coffee; experiment until you find the amount that you like.
You don’t need to add milk —but if you have a milk frother you can of course scoop some on top of your latte, and sprinkle a little dusting of pie spice over the top.
Addison Aylward-Vreeland couldn't contain her reaction as the judges named her the first place dancer.
SALISBURY — Earlier this month, a rising talent cemented her place in the firmament of competitive dance when Addison Aylward-Vreeland placed first at the national level of the Beyond The Stars Dance Competition.
Aylward-Vreeland, a rising fourth grader at Salisbury Central school, secured top marks among a field of twenty-four regional winners in the solo jazz dance category.
Her routine, “Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch,” was her first solo performance at the national competition level since she began dancing at age three. It took her and her coach, Maile Pikul of Cherilyn’s School of Dance in Pleasant Valley, New York, nearly seven months of diligent work to perfect.
“Solos have to be two minutes or less,” said Aylward-Vreeland, who is already working on her solo routine for the 2025 season, “but I have so many ideas I can’t fit them all in.”
Those ideas range from song choices to costumes and choreography — all selected to be perfectly complementary and to express the sounds, rhythms, and syncopations of jazz music. It’s a tall order made by an exacting discipline, but Aylward-Vreeland does it all while staying “cool as a cucumber.”
“She’s so excited to try new things,” said the dancer’s mother, Larissa Vreeland, “and every year she challenges herself a bit more.”
Aylward-Vreeland isn’t content only to take home the biggest prizes in her preferred jazz style, but also practices tap, hip-hop, ballet, and large group dance at her team’s studio in Pleasant Valley. Her teammates, “the Pearls,” are a tightly-knit group that Aylward-Vreeland has been performing with at the competition level since 2021.
Addison Aylward-Vreeland with her trophy from the national Beyond The Stars Dance Competition and her mom, Larissa Vreeland.Sava Marinkovic
Asked to name her dance heroes, Aylward-Vreeland answered, “my friends Lorelei and K.K. They do cool moves and they teach them to me.”
On Tuesday, July 9, at the Kalahari Convention Center in Pocono Manor, Pennsylvania, it came time for Aylward-Vreeland to show off those cool moves on Beyond the Stars’ national stage.
Three judges, a live audience of five hundred, and numerous far-flung livestream viewers had eyes on Aylward-Vreeland as she took the stage, tracked by spotlights so bright that she was “blinded” to the crowd of onlookers. None of it was enough to faze, however.
“I asked her to let me hold her butterflies,” said Vreeland, to which her daughter replied, “I don’t have any!”
It was meant to be the capstone performance of a meticulously-crafted routine that had already won Aylward-Vreeland a regional title and first place in four of five seasonal competitions — and the young dancer delivered.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” said Aylward-Vreeland, recalling how she waited on stage as the judges ranked the performances in ascending order. But as more placements were called without Aylward-Vreeland hearing her name, she began to get excited. “I started to see it coming,” she said, beaming from behind her array of trophies, “it felt really good to win.”
Following the solo competition, “the local support has been overwhelming,” said Larissa Vreeland, citing Addison’s incredible teammates, coaches, and supporters as reasons for her success.
For her upcoming endeavor, Aylward-Vreeland will have this support a bit closer at hand. Her team will be competing together in hip-hop, large group, and jazz dance at the World Dance Championship in Secaucus, New Jersey on July 24, 28 and 29. For the fans who wish to follow the Pearls’ next steps, twists and jumps, a livestream of the event will be available at www.worlddancechampionship.com/live-stream.
Riley Moriarty
Of thousands who attempt to walk the entire length of the Appalachian Trail, only one in four make it.
The AT, completed in 1937, runs over roughly 2,200 miles, from Springer Mountain in Georgia’s Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest to Mount Katahdin in Baxter State Park of Maine.
While a thru hike often begins as a solitary pursuit, hikers weave into one another’s lives on the journey. Hikers Liam Hickes, James Outlaw, Jackson O’Brasky, and Riley Moriarty – Hero, Outlaw, Rabbi, and White Claw as they are known on the trail – were strangers back in March but have now traveled together for months.
Great Falls, Falls Village.Provided
Before the trail, Moriarty – originally from Columbia, South Carolina – worked as a carpenter and lived in a yurt in Asheville, North Carolina. He went on a weekend long camping trip with friends and dreamed of a longer excursion in the woods.
Outlaw too craved adventure. Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, he had hiked sections of the AT with his dad and always wanted to do the full trek. While working at a food truck in Boone, North Carolina, he decided to commit to the challenge.
Hickes is also from Atlanta and had no idea the AT started in Georgia until reading author Andy M. Davidson’s book “When Sunday Smiled.” Inspired by the story of a retired Navy officer, he began to plan his own journey. Following service in the Marine Corps, he got on the trail as early as possible, hoping to be surrounded by fellow hikers.
O’Brasky spent much of his life among crowds in the cities of Hartford and New York City and sought the wilderness as an escape. A painter by trade, he applied for the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant with a proposal to hike the AT. After losing his job, O’Brasky received the grant and embarked on this six-month quest.
Liam Hickes.Provided
Life on the trail can be monotonous. “People romanticize thru hiking, but it’s important to remember that it’s just walking,” said Outlaw. A night of burgers, beer, and civilization is sure to lift spirits and remedy the backcountry blues.
But mostly the hikers enjoy settling into the steady rhythm of a slower, quieter existence: taking siestas on hot days, letting thoughts wander, and gradually moving forward. “I get bored very easily, and I really have not been bored often out here,” said O’Brasky.
Throughout the journey, these individuals have confronted wildlife, weather, and rugged terrain: praying not to flip while rafting down the Shenandoah River, laughing in delirium through a North Carolina snowstorm, befriending wild ponies, and soaking up stories of strange characters they meet.
Jackson O'BraskyProvided
When the trail tests their resilience, they manage to sustain a gentle hum of optimism. A moment of sunshine can erase all recollection of the storm that soaked their belongings.
With everything they need in their packs – tents, sleeping bags, three days’ worth of food – they are not tied to societal expectations or any physical place. Each roams freely and independently, deciding when to push and when to rest, but they camp together almost every night. Comradery makes the undertaking less daunting and memories more meaningful. “Being around others who want the same thing I want enhances everything,” said Hickes.
James Outlaw.Provided
Chipping away at this objective bestows a rewarding sense of accomplishment. “It’s always a big deal,” said Moriarty, “30 miles was a big deal. 100 miles was a big deal. I was really impressed with myself. Now it’s 1500, but it’s the same kind of feeling.”
As they approach Katahdin, minds wander to life post-trail. Hickes plans to start school in Louisiana with friends, while O’Brasky is unsure whether he will stay in New York City. Moriarty is considering joining the Coast Guard (though first he must figure out exactly what they do) and Outlaw is looking forward to a potential move to Colorado.
While they will put down their packs — at least temporarily — these men will carry willingness to be uncomfortable and determination to persevere wherever they go.
The clambake returns to SWSA's Satre Hill July 27 to support the Jane Lloyd Fund.
The 17th Annual Traditional New England Clambake, sponsored by NBT Bank and benefiting the Jane Lloyd Fund, is set for Saturday, July 27, transforming the Salisbury Winter Sports Association’s Satre Hill into a cornucopia of mouthwatering food, live music, and community spirit.
The Jane Lloyd Fund, now in its 19th year, is administered by the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation and helps families battling cancer with day-to-day living expenses. Tanya Tedder, who serves on the fund’s small advisory board, was instrumental in the forming of the organization. After Jane Lloyd passed away in 2005 after an eight-year battle with cancer, the family asked Tedder to help start the foundation. “I was struggling myself with some loss,” said Tedder. “You know, you get in that spot, and you don’t know what to do with yourself. Someone once said to me, ‘Grief is just love with no place to go.’ I was absolutely thrilled to be asked and thrilled to jump into a mission that was so meaningful for the community.”
Disbursements from the fund are made upon the written recommendation of a social service agent, town social worker, hospice care provider, visiting nurse, counselor, or pastor. These funds must be used for day-to-day expenses such as mortgage, rent, insurance, utilities, heating oil, car payments, and transportation to and from doctor appointments or cancer treatment appointments. “We’ve never turned anyone away,” said Tedder. “We have had to ask people to wait a little bit, but we have never said no, which in 19 years is amazing.”
Behind the scenes of the clambake, a team of 75 dedicated volunteers help make the event happen. Even getting the seafood from Fitchburg, Mass., to Salisbury is a journey all its own. “We meet up at the Mass Pike and do the switch,” Tedder explained. “We clean the clams and bag them...all with volunteers from the community.” Because of the generous sponsors and volunteers, all the money raised is donated. “Like the lady who does the flowers for the event,” said Tedder. “She decorates the tables and the tents, and she goes to Salisbury Garden Center, and they say, ‘Take what you need and bring it back when you’re done.’ It’s wonderful that everyone knows what we do and why we’re doing what we’re doing — it’s for such a good cause and there’s such a big need.”
The clambake meal tickets are your golden key to this feast, but fear not if seafood isn’t your thing. There will be a variety of options, including hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, clam chowder, and vegetarian options. And let’s not forget the dessert table of community-contributed delights, and an ice cream experience that promises to satisfy any sweet tooth. There will also be live music at The Music Circle with Eliot Osborn and Friends of The Joint Chiefs.
The actual clambake is quite the spectacle. Said Tedder, “The guys build a kiln out of wood with river rocks in the middle. They light it on fire until the rocks get really, really hot. Then they pull away the wood, cover the hot rocks with seaweed, and put bags of corn, clams, potatoes, and lobsters on top. It’s covered with large wet tarps and steams for about 40 minutes. After that, we have four teams of servers who serve 350 people.”
Tedder shared that her favorite part of the event is getting up to thank everyone. “It’s nerve-wracking, but it comes from my heart,” she said. “The most meaningful thing is that I get to read notes from people that have written in to say thank you and what it’s meant to them. It’s heart-wrenching in such a positive way because they say things like, ‘I wasn’t going to live and the Jane Lloyd Fund gave me hope, it gave me a reason to live.’ It’s incredible how deeply we touch someone’s life.”
For more information and tickets, go to www.thejanelloydfund.org