Everyone enjoys a nightcap when camping and what better way to end the evening than with a toasted marshmallow. There are few people who don’t savor the crunchy brown treats and children put them on par with puppies and chocolate ice cream. The outdoor humorist Patrick McManus even said that the toasted marshmallow is the kid campers peach brandy.

When the nights become cold enough to warrant cuddling up next to a roaring fire, it is marshmallow season. However, building a marshmallow fire is technical craft fraught with pitfalls. The risk of failure and third degree burns is always present unless certain elements are in order. The first such component is the night.

A proper marshmallow night must be cool but not cold. If the temperature is too cold, the exercise quickly becomes a torture test without any social value. If the night is too warm, a fire becomes an annoyance instead of a centerpiece of social interaction.

Next is the fire. The bonfire should have been burning for at least an hour or two so that there is a good bed of coals. This is not so much necessary for the toasting process but rather for the ease of maintaining the fire while enjoying the company. If the fire has a good bed of coals, a log can be haphazardly thrown onto the pyre as necessary without much fiddling, allowing the fire warden to focus on important matters such as telling ghost stories.

The crowd is the next consideration. Any group of marshmallow roasters should include children, as they are usually the reason for going to the trouble of roasting marshmallows in the first place. In a pinch, men in general will work because most of us are psychologically under 16 years of age anyway.

The choice of sticks is highly important. The technologically superior will choose metal skewers bought at the camping store. These are fine except that they tend to get hot, causing the marshmallow to slide into the fire unexpectedly. Sticks torn from surrounding trees are excellent aside from the ethical and legal problem of defoliating the already-defoliated trees in organized campgrounds. If you can craft natural roasting sticks from nearby trees without inflicting unsightly or unlawful damage, you get ten bonus style points.

Perhaps the best sticks are made from 3/8 inch dowel rods bought at the hardware store and sharpened in a pencil sharpener. These are cheap, hold the marshmallow until next Tuesday and impart no nasty taste as green tree branches can sometimes do.

Once the preparations are in order, the roasting can begin. For the perfect overall brown surface, a marshmallow must be constantly rotated over a moderately hot spot in the fire. A hot bed of coals is idea but you will need to experiment on the amount of time and turning. Using the leaping flames is difficult because the fire will momentarily die down then flash without warning. One minute you have a raw marshmallow then seconds later you are flailing around with a miniature road flare.

It is important to lecture the kids on the importance of not waving the stick wildly when the marshmallow catches fire. Such fires inevitably happen and without caution, there is a strong possibility that someone will end up with a wad of confectionary-based napalm in their lap. The sticks also tend to end up in someone’s eye unless strict twig discipline is observed.

Patience is the key to proper roasting. The champion in this category was my recently departed grandfather. While the kids were running around waving their flaming sticks in the air in a futile effort to quell the flames, he would leisurely spin his marshmallow over the coals until it was a perfect toasted brown. He would then pull off the skin and repeat the process, eventually pulling off several layers like a gummy onion. His record was four such skins. I’ve never gotten beyond two.

One of the most important elements for a good marshmallow roast is talk. Once the initial excitement has passed and everyone is satiated, it is time to sit back and look into the fire, mulling answers and questions among the glowing orange caverns. Even the youngest members of the group will find enjoyment in quietly sitting back to watch the fire slowly turn wood into light and heat.

As the conversation dies into silence like the crackling wood eventually turns to coals and finally ash, stillness settles over the scene until the only things spoken are thoughtful sentences carefully deliberated. The replies are equally considered and the topics flow aimlessly like water on a glass table. It is nice to see the kids staring into the fire, listening, lost in thought and sharing wisdom beyond their years.

At least until they unexpectedly share a flaming blob of molten sugar with your face.

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