Spice Up Your Fall in JAX with Pumpkin
When dreaming of fall, visions of pumpkins come to mind. In JAX, we can’t get enough of those round orange gourds just waiting for carving, consuming and calming. While we couldn’t possibly list all the amazing pumpkin tastes, aromas and activities available for the season, check out a few of our favorites from around Northeast Florida:
Photo Credit: Cinotti’s Bakery
If you’re like us, we could eat pumpkin pie, bread, soup… well, pretty much anything pumpkin, year-round. That’s why we love, love, LOVE fall. And those of us in JAX know the countdown to Cinotti’s Bakery’s pumpkin donuts starts early…as in the wee hours of the morning. These perfectly sweet, moist goodies become available at the end of September (with its launch at midnight!), so expect lines to form out the door for the whole season at this unassuming Jacksonville Beach storefront. Prefer your pumpkin in a pop? The Hyppo with locations in downtown St. Augustine and Riverside can satisfy that craving with their creamy pumpkin cheesecake pop. Can’t eat just one? Order their 12-pop pack at any store location or online.
Quench your pumpkin thirst from dawn ‘til dusk. No offense to Starbucks’ PSL, the most iconic of the pumpkin spiced drinks, but The Kookaburra Coffee in St. Augustine has cornered the market with its somethin’ pumpkin latte and pumpkin spice chai. Filled with frothy goodness, these seasonal drinks are a fan favorite year after year. Later in the day, downtown Jacksonville’s Bold City Brewery is brewing up flavor with their mildly spiced pumpkin ale on tap. YUM!
Pumpkin also has amazing health benefits that will leave skin feeling soft and sweetly spiced. Palatka’s River City Bathworks holiday collection of soaps includes a heavenly scented natural pumpkin slice artisanal soap slab this time of year. The 2.5-ounce soap, made with real pumpkin puree and pumpkin seed oil, also has an essential oil blend of orange, clove cinnamon and nutmeg, that makes it almost good enough to eat (Note: soap, even deliciously smelling versions, are not for eating!).
Area spas get into the pumpkin season as well with treatments using the many anti-aging health benefits of pumpkin. Atlantic Beach’s One Ocean Resort & Spa is offering a spice cider pumpkin mani/pedi fall delight with a hot, bubbling spiced cider soak whipped honey sea salt exfoliation, an organic pumpkin puree mud mask and a sweet botanic oil hand and foot massage. Or minimize those fine lines, wrinkles, pigment issues and acne with a pumpkin spice peel at The Spa at Hammock Beach in Palm Coast and leave bliss with soft, glowing skin.
Photo Credit: @emilyludke
And, no autumn season would be complete without a pumpkin patch. Add a crop maze, hayrides, farm animals and more and you’ve got the ultimate fall experience with Amazing Grace Family Farms in Green Cove Springs. Conner’s A-Maize-Ing Acres in Hilliard also offers horseback rides and corn cannons in addition to their pumpkin patch and crop maze. Word to the wise, the weekend surrounding Halloween is when the crop maze becomes the Haunted Trail. You’ve been warned!
Pumpkin is more than just the jack-o-lanterns on your neighbor’s doorstep. Get your pumpkin fix in JAX this fall.