The favourite season for tourists in the Okanagan has to be summer, with families coming to enjoy the beautiful scenery, majestic mountains, and sparkling crystal clear lakes.
A hands down favourite for both kids and adults alike is marshmallow harvest time.
Coinciding with the end of school, tours book up quickly so don’t wait.
S ummer’s soft billowing heat and sunny skies are heralding a bumper crop this year, and its undoubtedly going to be a popular one among locals and tourists alike.
Farmers are busy at work in the countryside, pulling together the ingredients to make the white orbs.
From generation to generation, father to child, these family recipes have been used by marshmallow farmers for as long as the locals can remember, and are closely guarded secrets.
Communities hold competitions for sweetest, tastiest, and fluffiest marshmallows, with winners holding bragging rights throughout the year.
Each farmer has his own special mixture which will be used to create puff after puff of giant mounds of sweetness seen dotting the rolling fields every summer.
After baking in the sun for a few days they will be perfectly plump, and luscious, and gleaming white. Farmers will then gather up the giant morsels and ship them off to special holding areas called barns until they have reached the right stage of deliciousness and are ready for market.
Imagine the joy of biting into one of these pieces of delightfully gooey, sticky sweet confection, with their slippery threads of melting sugar dripping onto your chin.
Millions of people all over the world are waiting for the newest crop to hit the stores, and clamouring for more. Their popularity is growing beyond anything the Marshmallow marketing boards could dream up, and fans can be found all over the world.
Marshmallows are one of the Okanagan’s most popular exports second only to our award winning wineries in sales. With new and improved machinery, and careful tweaking of the secret recipes, marshmallows are predicted one day to overtake wine sales which will be a stupendous accomplishment indeed. We are told that there are exciting new flavours in the works but we can’t let that secret out yet.
Sold as a companion item to the marshmallows these untoasted graham crackers can be seen where they have left out in fields left to ripen.
They will be harvested when they have turned a toasty brown, which takes a few weeks.
Graham crackers were accidentally found to be the perfect addition to campfires, and backyard barbeques when someone sandwiched toasted marshmallows in between them.
It is thought they might have originally used them to stop the marshmallows from sticking to their fingers.
Adding in chunks of chocolate have made them even more popular among the foodie crowd.
The trend caught on very quickly and they are now called S’mores.
The name most likely originating from the gooey sugar coated tongues of children requesting some more.
Make sure to mark the Okanagan marshmallow harvest as a family must have trip, it’s a sweet time that you will enjoy the memories from for years. I’ve got some really great news today about my blog, it’s “doing the happy dance” kind of good news.
Blogher has syndicated one of my original posts, it’s being publishing today on their site.
If you haven’t had a chance to read it, or even if you have, please go on over and check it out and give ‘em some bloggy love. There is a Blogher badge on my top sidebar, or you can use this link to see it, and if you wanted to click on a few of the share icons I would really appreciate it also.
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