Try or Deny: Fall Foods

The turning of the leaves brings cooler temps and fantastic new fall flavors. It's that time of year when pumpkin spice, maple and squash make their way into our favorite dishes. Here at The Kitchen, we've tasted three of the trendiest fall food items and we're letting you know the pros and cons of each one. It's a special fall edition of Try or Deny.

Every fall the grocery store shelves are filled with autumn flavors of pumpkin spice. You may have tried those warm flavors in your morning coffee, but have you tried them in hummus? Many brands come out with a limited-edition variety that has the regular chickpeas pureed with a punch of pumpkin along with a dash of cinnamon, clove or nutmeg. Some varieties are sweetened slightly with brown sugar and vanilla and some are more on the savory side. The one we tried wasn't a hit, since the flavors didn't wow us. For that reason, we had to "deny" it. But you might enjoy it with plain pita chips, on a sandwich or with fall party crudité.

Our next new fall item can be found in the produce section. Move over sweet potato fries, here come butternut squash fries! In our taste test, we found them to be quite delicious when tossed with olive oil, a little chili powder, salt and pepper. (Check out the full recipe here). The problem we found with these was less about taste and all about their texture. That makes this one a "deny" from us. Whether baked or even fried, they never achieved that crispy crunch of a sweet potato or white potato fry. You're better off thinking of them as butternut squash "sticks" instead.

Our last unexpected fall flavor can also be prepared at home. How about the sweet goodness of maple syrup in mayonnaise? You can easily make this one by adding a couple tablespoons of your favorite pure maple syrup to 1/2 cup of store-bought mayonnaise. The flavor is sweet and creamy and goes great on a turkey sandwich or BLT or even as a dip for sweet potato fries. This is a definite "try"!