h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The end of March is a somewhat sad time. Not quite Spring, but not really Winter either. It's just an awkward month. More than that, it's the time for a particularly solemn event. No, I'm not talking about Lent or Passover or any other mournful religious holiday.

March is the official end of the Mallomar Season.

For those of you who don't really know what I'm talking about, Mallomars are these addictive little cookies (made by Nabisco perhaps) which consist of a hemispherical bit of marshmallow on a round cookie base encased within a think dark chocolate shell. A box contains basically 24 of these small dome-shaped confections. The ingredients may be simple, but don't underestimate the cookie. These things are addictive. As a random aside, these cookies are also Kosher, meaning that heavily Jewish areas are one of the few places you'll regularly find them outside of NYC. Inside of NYC, by the way, we eat about 70% of the Mallomars made every year.

Unfortunately, the key to Mallomars' success is also their Achilles Heel; the thin dark chocolate crust is so light it melts in your hand. As a result, Mallomars can't be sold in the summer, since they'll melt on the store shelves. So we must now wait until Fall to enjoy these treats again. I guess all I can do now is have some Peeps (a scary toxic Marshmallow treat shaped like bright yellow little birds) and wait for autumn to roll around.

I THINK I know the things you're talking about. You can often get them individually wrapped in foil, but they've ALWAYS melted to the sides, and more often than not, they've been slightly squashed too.

Still yummy, though!

<-- (The nearest Smiley equivalents of chocolate-covered mallow-filled biscuits)

Hello,

Really? You can get them in Britain? Here in the States, we get them in a white box, with 2 rows of 12 inside. They're not moon pies or pinwheels, since they have the graham cracker crust on the bottom. Hey, I found a link (hopefully not removed later [URL removed by moderator]
Yours,
Jake

I'm pretty sure we have them, under some sound-a-like name. Do some have jam in, too? Ours do.

Hello,

No. None have jam in them. It sounds like a similar concept though. Purists may argue about the merits or shortcomings, but I'm not that picky.

Yours,
Jake

They're a bit like the deformed brother of a Wagonwheel, don't you think?

Hello,

I suppose perhaps, but I think a wagon wheel is made with milk chocolate while the Mallomar is enrobed in dark chocolate. It's a subtle but important difference. Does that sound right?

Yours,
Jake

It doesn't sound wrong!

Plus, do the Wagonwheels have a graham cracker base? The base is also important (it's about .25" thick), because it allows there to be 4 or so different ways of eating:

1. bite off the base, then eat the rest.
2. Bite of the marshmallow from the base and eat the rest
3. Bite the mallomar vertically or
4. Just put the whole thing in your mouth.

Yours,
Jake

I'm afraid I don't even know what a Graham Cracker base IS!

Our bases are usually biscuity, but not too hard (rather like the biscuit in a Wagonwheel).

Oh right,

The graham cracker is a slightly hard, slightly mushy biscuit base. I guess it's similar to a more mushy Homewheat or Hobnob. It's solid enough to be snapped in two, but it offers no real resistance to the teeth. The Graham Cracker was invented by some minister as a health alternative to drinking I think. I'm not sure what he was thinking, but the 19th century was filled with wacky people...

As for what they taste like? I don't really know how to describe it, except to say they taste like graham crackers.

Yours,
Jake

I forgot to mention, Graham Crackers fall apart quickly in milk. They're that mushy. Anyway, I found some more info on the web:

"The use of graham flour, an unbolted wheat flour, to make a cracker resulted in what we today call the graham cracker. This semisweet cracker can be eaten on its own, but it is also a staple in pie crusts and Smores... The graham cracker is named after Sylvester Graham, an American nutritionist who first developed this treat in 1829."

That clears it up, doesn't it?

Yours,
Jake