The Dish

The S’more the Merrier

Celebrate five years of Sugar Rush’s gourmet mallowy goodness with half-price s’mores all month long.

There’s not a more iconic summer snack than s’mores. And nobody believes in that more than Julie and Jean Summers, the wife-and-wife duo behind Sugar Rush Marshmallows in Winter Garden. “Our goal was to open a s’mores business,” says Julie. “But to do that, we had to start with marshmallows.”

The two have been carting their S’mores-Mobile across central Florida,selling their hand-made, gourmet marshmallows. “We toast everything live. It’s a good show,” says Julie. “We love watching people walk around with s’mores— their hands are all sticky, their face is all messy, but they don’t care. It’s like being a kid again. We love being part of that energy.”

So, what goes into a gourmet marshmallow anyway? A lot more than you think. “A store-bought marshmallow is fluffed up with a jet puffer to give it shape and structure, whereas gourmet marshmallows are made in a mixer and cut,” explains Julie. “There are around 10 gourmet marshmallow companies in the country. But they all have completely different marshmallow-making methods. We did 200 different protypes

of marshmallows—like, a basic vanilla marshmallow—before we settled on the final product.”

“The most important thing is we make everything from scratch as much as possible,” says Jean. “We make all our own flavors—our own sugar syrup, our own cinnamon, our own extracts, our own graham crackers. Our marshmallows are never made with corn syrup.”

The Sugar Rush girls also love innovating with marshmallow’s gooier cousin: fluff.”We can do so much with a spreadable marshmallow,” says Julie. “We can make fruit desserts, puddings, pies, fluffer nutter sandwiches.”

“Some people have no upper limit on how sweet they like things, so for them, we can slather the fluff on a brownie and drizzle it with caramel,” adds Jean. “But for those who don’t like things overly sweet, we can pair it with, say, passionfruit, and we can really tone it down.”

But at the end of the day, s’mores are their most beloved treat, whether they’re in a graham cracker or on a stick. “We lived in Korea together—that’s where we met—and in Korea, street food is a big deal,” says Julie. “That’s probably where the inspiration came from, was being immersed in that culture.”

The two have had a passion for marshmallow-making for many years—Julie was just 13 years old when she fell in love with sugar science—but didn’t turn it into a business until five years ago. “We started at the Feedback Fair at East End Market in Orlando,” says Jean. “They invited us to the event so we could test out our branding and our presentation with the public. That was May 1, 2016.”

Caramel S’mores

Sugar Rush is now celebrating its fifth anniversary by offering $5 s’mores plus some extra events throughout the month of May. “We’re doing birthday Rice Krispies, birthday pudding, birthday mini-cakes,” says Julie. “We’ll be doing different specials every weekend this month in lieu of being able to have a big celebration right now.”

Frozen S’mores on a stick

“We do have a website,but it has a really limited menu because it has to be shippable throughout the U.S.,” says Jean. Instead, for the latest on what they’re offering and when, it’s best to check their Facebook and Instagram (@sugarrushmarshmallows).

Julie and Jean are excited to see what the next five years of Sugar Rush will bring. “We want to sell a dessert that people want to come back for,” says Jean. “We love the s’mores because they’re a great way for people to connect.” DID YOU KNOW?

Depending on the size of the batch—currently 50 to 500 marshmallows—the process of mixing and curing a single batch of marshmallows can take anywhere between 24 hours and a full week. They can take even longer in the summer, since Florida’s humidity can hinder the curing process. “Time and space are the biggest factors in marshmallow-making,” says Julie. “It’s a laborious product, and it’s just the two of us.”

The Bartender