TODAY IS NATIONAL S'MORES DAYDefinition of a S'More
A dessert consisting usually of toasted marshmallow and pieces of chocolate bar sandwiched between two graham crackers.
As I've said before I grew up in a camping family so S'mores were one of the earliest sweets I can remember. I loved mine where the marshmallow was toasted almost to the point of being black because it would melt the chocolate until it dripped off the graham cracker. There's nothing more fun than having to blow out the flames on your marshmallow then quickly sticking it on the waiting chocolate covered graham crackers and squishing the whole pile into a gooey mess. To this day it's the only way I will voluntarily eat a graham cracker and enjoy it.
Being part of a good scouting family we were required to gather our own marshmallow toasting stick and whittle it to a point ourselves. I still have the little knife my father gave me one camping trip when I was deemed old enough to do this myself.
S'mores are such an iconic part of an American campfire experience that it's almost sacrilegious to be sitting next to a flaming wood fire and not pull out boxes of graham crackers, bags of marshmallows and bars of chocolate.
If you've never had a S'more then you've missed out on one of the all time great classic pop culture foods of America and it's time you tried one - here's how to make the classic version:
- Start a campfire.
- Get 2 squares of graham crackers ready on a paper plate.
- Place enough Hershey's (yes, I said Hershey's - it's not a true pop culture food without Hershey's) chocolate to cover one of the graham cracker squares.
- Get a stick from a nearby tree and whittle one end to a point.
- Place a marshmallow on your stick and roast it to a golden brown color - the marshmallow should be melted enough to almost be falling off your stick!
- Quickly grab the marshmallow off the stick and plop it down on the chocolate.
- Put the second graham cracker over the marshmallow.
- Squish the whole gooey mess until the chocolate and marshmallow ooze out the sides and onto your fingers.
- Eat with childlike abandon and glee.
You can, if without a campfire or open flame, microwave the marshmallow but it's not really a S'more without the charred marshmallow. The direct fire gives a crunchy caramelized addition to this campfire dessert that nothing else can reproduce.
Ben & Jerry's has a S'mores ice cream flavor, there's a Pop Tart S'mores, there are S'mores flavored energy bars, Russell Stover has a S'mores candy bar, Weight Watchers has a diet S'mores treat and Epicurious has a S'mores Cheesecake recipe. Krispy Kreme even has a S'mores Doughnut! There are all sorts of ways to get the S'mores flavor in the 21st century but none of these can compare to the classic campfire treat above.
A Few S'mores Facts
Ben & Jerry's has a S'mores ice cream flavor, there's a Pop Tart S'mores, there are S'mores flavored energy bars, Russell Stover has a S'mores candy bar, Weight Watchers has a diet S'mores treat and Epicurious has a S'mores Cheesecake recipe. Krispy Kreme even has a S'mores Doughnut! There are all sorts of ways to get the S'mores flavor in the 21st century but none of these can compare to the classic campfire treat above.
A Few S'mores Facts
- The first printed record of a S’mores recipe appeared in "Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts" published in 1927
- “National S’mores Day” is on August 10th each year - this date was instituted by the Hershey Company.
- The Hershey Company makes more than 373 million HERSHEY’S Milk Chocolate bars a year. That’s enough to make 746 million S’mores!
Chocolate Chip Cookie S'mores, Chocolate Banana S’mores, Peanut Butter & Jelly S’mores, Coconut S’mores, Rocky Road S’mores, Peanut Butter Cup S'mores.
And, of course, my adult version, the
S'MORES MARTINI!
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