National S’mores Day is August 10
Melted chocolate! Gooey marshmallow and crunchy graham cracker cookies! Summer months are all about swimming, hamburgers and hot dogs, and having fun outdoors. How about watching twinkling fireflies at night and sitting around a campfire?
You can make a favorite summertime treat with a few ingredients from your kitchen and you don’t need to build a campfire to enjoy them. Let’s make “s’mores!”
A s’more is made by making a sweet sandwich of two graham crackers, toasted marshmallow, and half a chocolate bar.
Who first put this delicious combination of flavors together to make this summertime treat?
A History about Marshmallow
The very first marshmallows came from a plant called Althaea officinalis.
Early civilizations of ancient Greeks and Romans used the root and leaves of the plant for medicinal purposes. The word “Althaea” comes from the Greek “altheo” meaning “to cure.”
The French came up with the idea to combine the root juice of the plant with eggs and sugar. They put the ingredients together and mixed it until it made a fluffy foam. They first used this mixture to make lozenges for sore throats. People found it helped ease the pain in their throats and it also happened to taste pretty good!
Dessert Ideas
Where did the idea come from to put chocolate and marshmallow together with graham crackers?
Funnel cakes and other desserts in the Victorian era were made with chocolate and marshmallow in the recipes.
Roasting marshmallows over an open flame became a popular summer treat in the 1890s in summer beach towns like Asbury Park in New Jersey. There were events for young people where they ate toasted marshmallows on sticks as they walked along the beach boardwalks. Candy creations like Mallomars and Moonpies started to appear in stores with the chocolate and marshmallow ingredient combination as these flavors became popular with customers.
The First Recipe for S’mores
The first official recipe for s’mores appeared in a Girl Scout guidebook in 1927.
This book was written for the Girl Scouts about how to be a good scout and follow advice and guidance.
The original recipe called for feeding eight hungry scouts. A Troop leader named Loretta Scott Crew made the dessert with 16 graham crackers, eight bars of plain chocolate, and 16 marshmallows. The marshmallows were toasted to a “crispy, gooey state” and put together with the chocolate bars to melt in between the graham crackers.
The story is that everyone thought they were so yummy and wanted “Some More!” The recipe title of “Some More” was listed in Girl Scout publications until about the year 1971 and eventually shortened to the name “s’more.”
You don’t need a campfire to make this classic summertime dessert. You can make s’mores in the oven or on the grill with help from an adult.
You can also get creative with the ingredients to fill your s’mores. Try using peanut butter and Nutella or simply use a peanut butter cup for a sweet and salty burst of flavor. Swap out the graham crackers for large chocolate chip cookies. Pour some chocolate chips and marshmallows into a waffle ice cream cone and make a “s’mores cone!”
“S’mores! What a classic Scouting campfire delicacy! And they’re not necessarily just graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate,” says Paua Murphey, Managing Editor of Scout Life Magazine. “You can find cool recipes for all kinds of them at our Scout site.”
So tasty for a summer afternoon or evening!
There’s no reason to mess with this classic camping dessert. But if you’re feeling adventurous, here are 11 tasty S’more variations.
