Sunday, June 29, 2008

Roasting Marshmallows


There is nothing like sitting around a roaring fire roasting marshmallows on a hot summer night. Choosing the right stick is of paramount importance. It has to be long and narrow with smooth bark. A pointy end helps; otherwise the marshmallow develops a huge hole and has been know to fall into the flame. Not that this has ever happened to me, of course. Ahem. There are various techniques to toasting. I prefer the char-it-till-it’s-black method. But then I have no patience for the slow-constant-turning method. I actually like when it catches fire. After blowing it out, I slip off the outer layer and pop it into my mouth then put the marshmallow back in. The underlayer then toasts to a gooey golden brown.


As I sat starring into the flames last night, the neighbors popped over with their 2 girls. I sent them off to the wood pile to select sticks. They toasted and ate marshmallow after marshmallow, thrilled with the woodsy-ness of it all. We fed the fire late into the night; telling stories, pointing out constellations, listening to the trill of the tree frogs and the random early bang of firecrackers. I love being part of the innocence of childhood.

7 comments:

Lonely Paul said...

Hello

Anonymous said...

I prefer to use a metal marshmallow fork--germs, ya know. I think I got it in a catalog--maybe Plow and Hearth.

Wendy said...

Sounds wonderful. There is something so magical about gazing into a campfire, looking up at the stars, and good company.

Deejbrown said...

The key is finding just-the-right stick that doesn't have too many burrs in it to rip the soft belly of the marshmallow when you tease it off into your mouth.
I like mine dark gold, so will be the one bent over the coals, not lighting it into a sugar bonfire.
Yum!

Bevson said...

You have to see this. It is funny and a different side to roasting marshmallows. My guess is charred would not be easy.

http://kiggavik.typepad.com/the_house_other_arctic_mu/2008/06/so-how-does-one-roast-marshmallows-in-a-place-with-no-trees.html

Granny J said...

I always liked them charred a bit. Fire does something to sugar. But it's been a long, long time.

Anonymous said...

Roasting marshmallows...I've been hearing that thing on some songs (Christmas songs particularly) for years.

It's a shame on me that I haven't tried doing that in my entire life. The reason is that we don't have any fireplace at home and we don't cook our food through igniting firewood and all.

So, can I roast marshmallows using a gasoline-powered stove? Will the taste be still sweet? I guess not...