Inspiration: Every now and then, for reasons I don’t fully understand, I get bored. And the only real cure, for me at least, is to try something new. A fix that is a tad difficult to achieve when you’re stuck at home — but not impossible. 

Fortunately, I’d finally figured out a method (that works for me) for making sourdough starter. Hopping onto one of my favorite baking websites, I found a completely unfamiliar recipe for Sourdough Pumpkin Spice Bread. Always wishing for Autumn in the middle of summer and excited to bake something new, I got to work…And quickly discovered I didn’t have all the ingredients. 

Happily, it was only the raisins and walnuts.

Substituting raw pumpkin seeds and chopped crystallized ginger, I followed the rest of the recipe to the letter. And it turned out great! 

Once you get everything measured the batter comes together very quickly.

Admittedly, the ginger didn’t add the same texture as the raisins would, but the burst of concentrated spice flavor more than made up for it, whilst the pumpkin seeds, which are naturally a tad bitter, helped keep the loaf from being overly sweet. Whilst the sourdough starter added a subtle, twangy note to the whole affair.

Christie’s Canon of Characters: Remember when, in Hallowe’en Party, Ariadne Oliver goes off apples for just a bit? I wonder, being as it was spooky season, if she switched to pumpkin flavor to fill that apple-shaped void in her life? 

Admittedly, Christie set Hallowe’en Party well before pumpkin spice was a thing that infiltrates our lives from mid-September to the end of November. However, both fruits pair well with allspice, butter, cinnamon, cloves, honey, ginger, nutmeg, thyme, and vanilla. Although pumpkin isn’t generally eaten raw, the similar spice palate could have helped Ariadne satiate her apple craving. Especially if she consumed something akin to the aforementioned bread recipe with some apple brandy.

Or maybe she switched to pears until Poirot solved the case.

Which, honestly, sounds more likely.

My 52 Weeks With Christie: A.Miner©2025