Simplicity in itself, graham cracker, slab of chocolate, and a marshmallow: Toast lightly (usually over a campfire or grill) and enjoy! But who had the bright idea to combine these elements into a tasty treat and who came up with the name?
Alas, no one knows because s’mores have been around for over 100 years. As far back as we can trace it, there is a recipe for this confection, then known as a graham cracker sandwich in a Campfire Marshmallow cookbook from the early 1920s, but the cookbook doesn’t claim it to be an original recipe, meaning it had probably been around for a few years before.
It appears with the name “Some Mores” in a 1927 book, Tramping and Trailing with the Girl Scouts. By 1938, scouting books for both Boy and Girl Scouts had shortened the name to “s’mores.” But this confection really didn’t take off until the Baby Boomers reached scouting age in the 1950s. Scores of scouts, plus an explosion in summer camps for kids during those years resulted in the simple recipe for s’mores coming home to backyard barbecues across the U.S. and Canada.
Recipes for s’mores crossed over to mainstream cookbooks when Betty Crocker first included the recipe in their 1957 edition. This treat remained a homemade confection until Hershey’s introduced their S’more candy bar in 2003. But can you really compare any store-bought s’more to the glorious sticky, sweet experience of toasting your own?
BTW - mark your calendars because August 10th is National S’mores Day!
