Aldi's New Fall Margherita Pizza Features – Checks Notes – Pumpkin Crust
We bet you can't guess the flavor of the crust for Aldi's new autumnal Margherita pizza. Okay, even if you somehow didn't read the headline yet, the answer is obviously pumpkin. As many shoppers know, fall brings with it a variety of pumpkin- (and pumpkin spice-) flavored products. Pumpkins are typically harvested around the fall season, so this makes a certain amount of sense. But pumpkin and pizza combined together? Aldi may have gone too far with this one!
As one exasperated person writes on Aldi's Instagram, "Not everything has to be pumpkin." The shopping chain's PR team, however, simply deflects the criticism with a joking response: "Cue the 'You sure about that?' meme." There's no denying that pumpkin sells well, especially in the fall. Just take a look at Starbucks, which sells on average 20 million pumpkin spice lattes a year. Yes, we know that pumpkin spice isn't technically made with pumpkin, but it carries the spirit of this gourd.
For interested shoppers, Aldi's Margherita pizza features basil, cherry tomatoes, garlic, mozzarella, and spinach. And all those ingredients are encased in a crust made with pumpkin. (The chain is also selling a similar pizza with a beets-flavored crust, but that's decidedly less festive.)
Do pumpkin and pizza go together?
Unfortunately, we haven't tried the pizza ourselves nor have any brave shoppers offered up their review of the pumpkin pizza just yet. However, pumpkin may blend well with pizza — as long as you're mindful of which toppings you include. When people think of pumpkin, they likely think of pumpkin pies and other sweet dishes, but pumpkin actually blends well with a number of savory ingredients, as well. To draw out pumpkin's savory qualities, you may want to season the fruit with chili pepper or cayenne pepper. As a crust, it should work similarly to standard pizza dough but with a slightly nuttier flavor.
Of course, you could always incorporate pumpkin into the pizza itself by using it as a sauce instead. Some recipes combine blended pumpkin with nutmeg and cheese for a slightly sweeter take on 'za. You could even combine roasted pumpkin with pizza as a topping. The point being: Even if you end up not liking the way that Aldi put together its pie, there are other ways to try out this autumnal ingredient. It's all about experimentation, just as the shopping chain has demonstrated with its new fall dish. While it may not win awards for originality, Aldi is clearly thinking outside of the box on how it's using pumpkin this season.