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| HAPPY NATIONAL S'MORES DAY!!! Jenn McKinlay: Y'all, one thing I do every day is to check the National Day Calendar to see what's the haps. I mean I don't want to miss National Donut Day (there might be free donuts out there) or Stay Home & Snuggle Your Dog Day (that would be tragic). You can imagine my joy when I saw today was National S'mores Day! Then I realized I don't know much about s'mores, so I read up (librarian!) and I actually discovered some hilarious and shocking facts - which is why I called this blog "Not What I Expected!" 1. S'more comes from the hyphenated name Some More. I sort of knew that but it was nice to be reminded, although no one is clear on when the hyphen became the norm. 2. The very first marshmallows go all the way back to Ancient Greece and Rome and were derived from the juiced roots of a plant called Althaea Officinalis and were used medicinally (laxative!). 3. The French were the first to make marshmallows into a treat (of course, they were) and by the end of the 19th century they replaced the plant juice with gelatin, making it much cheaper. 4. Here's where it gets good! The graham cracker was invented by Sylvester Graham, a Presbyterian minister, who believed human beings were going to hell in a hand basket because of their obsession with carnal desires. He felt certain that a bland dry cracker would curb people's sex drives and thus invented one, which he named it after himself (well, duh). What a legacy! 5. The first official recipe for the Some More was published in the Girl Scout guidebook Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts in 1927 (naturally, it was the Girl Scouts - clearly, a precursor to their future cookie pushing endeavors). The recipe is credited to Troop Leader Loretta Scott Crew (and we are forever grateful!). Personally, I don't use graham crackers (carnal desires be damned) because I toast my marshmallows until they are brown on the outside (not charred) and gooey in the middle. Then I slide the marshmallow off the stick and put the piece of chocolate inside to let it melt. It makes a perfect marshmallow cup of chocolate. So good! How about you, Reds and Readers, do you love s'mores? What are your memories of making them? |
