Throughout November, with the help from the Forest School leads at our sites, I have made my way around each Snapdragons nursery to host a Spooks and S’mores event. As parents arrived to pick up their children, families slowly but surely, made their way outdoors, following the smell and husks in the air of the lit fire, people joined us to toast a mushy marshmallow and relax watching the flickering flames and keeping warm.

A bit of history for you, traditionally a S’more is made with a ‘Graham Cracker Sandwich' where a toasted marshmallow and half a chocolate bar were sandwiched between Graham Crackers. This was first seen in a 1920s US cookbook as a recipe. The phrase s’more is a contraction of the phrase 'some more’. The s’more traditionally requires a campfire… Unless, like New Zealand climber Simon Turner, who roasted a marshmallow over an active volcano. Click here to see.

We wanted to pay homage to this delicious treat and take a moment to relax around the flames with our little ones. In our opinion the perfect s’more is: Two chocolate digestive biscuits and a marshmallow toasted over the fire, squished and squashed together once the marshmallow has cooked to your desired gooeyness.  As we nattered around the fire a common question asked was: is my marshmallow cooked? My reply was always, it’s up to you. Some like the marshmallow a little blushed by the fire, whilst others like the it with an outer shade of black, crispy but just right to add some biscuits.

FIRE LIGHTING HACKS

Each Snapdragons site is unique for fire lighting, huddled under a tarp in the Forest keeping dry from the rain or on some concrete, it doesn’t matter, fires can be lit anywhere as long as the weather conditions are safe to do so.

There are a few things you will need in order to have an outdoor fire: a fire bowl or chiminea, firelighters (like bark, cotton wool or newspaper), a handful of small matchstick sized sticks used to establish the flame as tinder. The idea is to gradually build up the flame which means gradually using larger sticks as the flame increases in size. If you don’t build up the fire bit by bit, it will be hard to get it roaring. It is also important to have all of your fuel ready to add to the fire as it will eat away at the wood quicker than you think. And lastly, your fire needs three things to keep going - FUEL, OXYGEN and HEAT, if any of these are removed it is likely that the fire will go out.

For fuel, it is best to collect dead wood. That is wood caught up in neighbouring trees and not in contact with the ground, so it is really dry. Ensure the wood you use is dried and seasoned, this way it is safe to use and will not emit much smoke. Hardwood is preferable as this will burn for longer than softer woods. Here is a little guide to which woods will have a great burn to them. If you are using shop bought wood it should have the ‘ready to burn’ sticker, therefore it is safe to do so. Follow the link to find a few different ways to set up your fire for maximum burn.

If you are aiming to cook food over the fire, you want to establish a large bed of embers and grey charcoal to cook over, this means initially making a large fire with lots of wood, then letting it settle down. If the aim is to keep warm and enjoy the flames then you will want lots of wood on the fire to keep it roaring away.

Happy cooking!