S’mores are a summertime staple. Marshmallows, chocolate and graham crackers, the three simple ingredients that make up the delicious treat we know and love, are essential for an evening around the campfire. But where did this combination come from? These three ingredients have an interesting pathway through history, and sugar has been involved all along the way!
To begin, let’s look at the genesis of the marshmallow. Dating back to Greek and Roman empires, the root of the Athlaea officinalis plant was commonly used for medicinal purposes. In the 19th century, French confectioners combined the juice from this root with sugar, water and egg whites to form a spongey, sweet lozenge. This lozenge was used to soothe sore throats and had the added benefit of being tasty!
Bars of chocolate were introduced in the mid-1800s by Joseph Fry. Prior to this, chocolate had primarily been consumed in liquid form, like the well-known drink hot chocolate. However, Fry and his son used cocoa powder and sugar to form a chocolate paste that could dry into a bar shape.
Graham crackers also date back to the 19th century temperance movement when Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham invented a cracker he believed would improve poor health and curb any human desires to be “unruly”. Today sugar adds some sweetness and supports the shelf-life of this common snack.
So who is credited for having put all of these unique parts together? The first official s’mores recipe can be found in the 1927 Girl Scout guidebook Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts. Credited to Girl Scout leader Loretta Scott Crew, the recipe details the use of one box of Graham crackers, eight bars of chocolate, and 16 marshmallows to assemble eight sandwiches after using a campfire to roast the marshmallows.
You can now find s’mores as a common flavor of various sweet snacks—Poptarts, candy and granola bars—as well as in home-baked desserts. Even 5-star restaurants have caught on to the trend! There is something irresistible about the combination of marshmallow, chocolate, and Graham cracker. This unique American campfire treat is becoming its own experimental dessert, too, as people get creative in trading out the standard chocolate bar for various other candy options. So, the question is—how will you build your s’more this summer?
