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A post by Maynard

Today is National S’mores Day. Who knew?

I’m not making this up. Here’s the Hershey’s press release.

This article includes some fascinating information about the history of s’mores.

The first print mention of a s’more is in the 1927 Girl Scout Handbook, complete with recipe. I would imagine that the most important development was the “convergence” of all three ingredients.

Graham crackers were invented in 1829 by Sylvester Graham, a vegetarian who came up with a sweetened wheat cracker considered at the time to be a health food.

Milton Hershey visited the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 and learned about chocolate machinery. He bought some German machines, had them shipped to Lancaster, Pa., and began experimenting with an affordable American chocolate bar. The Swiss were very secretive about their product and would not allow him to visit their factories. He introduced his product in 1900.

Marshmallows go back to ancient Egypt, where the sap of the marshmallow plant that grows in salt marshes and on the banks near large bodies of water was used to make them. The French had created an expensive variation on all-candy marshmallows by 1850, but the Americans came up with an inexpensive product using gelatin around 1900.

Bon appétit!