Pumpkin spice and everything . . . not so nice?

The Washington Post has squashed one of the much-anticipated joys of autumn after invoking the “violent history” of everyone’s favorite fall spice.

The report, titled “Fall’s Favorite Spice Blend has a Violent History,” examined the Dutch’s 1621 invasion of the Banda Islands, located in modern-day Indonesia.

“Thousands were killed, others enslaved, and many who fled to the mountains were starved out,” read the piece published Oct. 6.

“The Dutch company was later accused of carrying out what some describe as the first instance of corporate genocide,” Adam Clulow, a historian and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told the outlet.

“And it was all for nutmeg.”

The report notes that nutmeg is “one of three key spices” in the pumpkin spice blend and “grew nowhere else in the world” during the 17th century.

“A lot of commodities have terrible histories — there’s sugar and tobacco to think about,” Clulow told WaPo. “But nutmeg, now used in pumpkin spice, has the most compressed terrible history. Thousands were killed.”

Nutmeg was also prized for its perceived medicinal benefits as many believed it could cure the plague, sharpen memory and calm the mind, as well as make people “more beautiful,” Clulow said.

Food historian Sarah Wassberg Johnson also told the newspaper that spices are a “natural course of trade,” although it just so happens that the main spices in pumpkin spice are “fraught with colonizer histories.”

“It’s true that if we didn’t consume food that hadn’t been touched by slavery and Indigenous displacement, we wouldn’t be eating a lot of food,” Johnson told the paper. “But whenever foods enter the pop culture lexicon the way pumpkin spice has in the US, it’s important to acknowledge how it reached us.”

Along with nutmeg, pumpkin spice typically consists of cinnamon, cloves and ginger — all of which were touched by violence.

The average European most likely did not have access to many of these spices in the 17th century, Johnson said, but once enslaved laborers were brought to work on plantations, the crops were mass-produced and the supply increased, causing prices to fall.

By the mid-19th century, nutmeg, mace, cloves, cinnamon and ginger became common, and foods such as gingerbread cake, spice cake and spiced pumpkin and apple pies became indelible parts of American food history, Johnson said in the report.

Clulow added that “today, nutmeg has no negative connotations.”

He also said that Starbucks’ Pumpkin Spice Latte reminds him of 17th-century still-life paintings by Dutch masters, such as “Still Life With a Turkey Pie,” which he described as the “ultimate symbol of stunningly opulent, globalized consumption in the 17th century.”

“It’s the same with these Starbucks lattes,” he said. “You’re getting stuff from all over the world and repackaging it for wealthy consumers without acknowledging the history of the ingredients.”

Nutmeg might be hard to resist, but people tend to overindulge in nutmeg-based foods in the fall — which can be both good and bad.

“Nutmeg is a versatile spice that adds a warm, nutty flavor to both sweet and savory dishes,” Mary Sabat, a nutritionist and owner of BodyDesigns, told USA Today.

Sabat revealed that one benefit of nutmeg is that it’s rich in anti-oxidants “that can help combat oxidative stress,” an imbalance between the production and accumulation of oxygen-reactive species in cells and tissues, according to Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity journal. Incorporating nutmeg or similar spices in your diet can help prevent it.

However, there are also cons to the beloved spice.

“Consuming large amounts of nutmeg can lead to hallucinations, nausea and other health issues. It should be used sparingly,” the nutritionist said. 

Symptoms of nutmeg toxicity include nausea, vomiting, mouth dryness and pupil involvement, as well as — in severe cases — seizure, hallucination, confusion and unstable blood pressure.

Starbucks celebrated the iconic seasonal drink’s 20th anniversary this year, and hundreds of millions of cups of Pumpkin Spice Latte have sold in the last two decades, according to the coffee chain.