DAVENPORT, Iowa — Odds are, Betsy Green loves a Pumpkin Spice Latte more than you.
One minute into our conversation and Green had already asked if I was "making a shopping list." And I was! That's because Betsy was talking about pumpkin product after pumpkin product: ALL of which she reviews for her blog.
Betsy's pumpkin passion began three years ago as she patiently waited for Starbucks to reintroduce her favorite latte.
"And it just kind of snowballed from there," Green explained. "I started looking for more pumpkin-related content, and I would write these reviews about it. And, you know, people seemed to like it."
Pumpkin spice season starts when Green decides it does. That's usually September. It runs for 3 months. And, according to Green, "It ends Thanksgiving with pumpkin pie... but that's me!"
Over those three months, Betsy samples some strange foods. She says pumpkin spice gum is probably the strangest. "It's real, it exists," Green swears. But when I asked how that gum was, I got a bit of hesitation. Green just says, "It isn't bad."
She rates food on a scale of one to five pumpkins, usually. Green has given things zero pumpkins, but not necessarily because they're bad tasting. Pumpkin-shaped marshmallows earned zero pumpkins because-- apparently-- they didn't taste like pumpkin at all.
As for Betsy's favorite... that came to mind quickly. Green says that award goes to "the harvest chippers from Whitey's. Those are amazing!"
Betsy posts 3 to 4 times a week each fall for the past three years."Right now, I don't want to write about something that I've written about already, so there are fewer and fewer things I can write about and buy."
But thanks to friends, family, and followers, the pumpkin ideas keep growing.
"People will post stuff on my wall on Facebook, you need to try this. Try this and bring me some."
Keeping Betsy's shopping list long, all pumpkin-spice season long.