Sweet History of Campfire Marshmallows

11/30/2017

Redel Candy marshmallow tin c. 1910s

The Reidel Company of Milwaukee began making and selling marshmallows early in the first decade of the 20th century. They were not alone in this pursuit as other confectioners like Ziegler, American Candy, Johnston and Eline’s took a piece of the marshmallow pie, as it were. However, Imperial Foods/Reidel struck upon the concept of making their brand synonymous with roasting the sweet treat while cooking outdoors.1 Campfire continued to be the market leader with ideas such as rounding the marshmallow to make them easier to stir and use for baking, packaging them in a wax-lined, cardboard box with exterior wrapper to keep them soft and fresh, and encouraging cooks to try them with foods such as hot chocolate and sweet potatoes or even in green salads or meatloaf.

1928 Advertisement for recipes

1920s New Package Advertisement

c. 1920 Angelus Marshmallow tin

Rare art deco design Brach's tin

In the fast life of the candy business, the Campfire brand was purchased by one of their Chicago rivals, Angelus, most famous for Cracker Jack. Angelus had been against it with their own marshmallow brand as Chicago, like Milwaukee, was a top confectionery city. Brach’s and Bunte were just two of the other large brands in the first half of the century. So the name recognition that came with Campfire Marshmallows was terrifically valuable.

It was during Angelus’ ownership that Campfire received a further boost. Malitta Jensen and Mildred Day were looking for an idea to help their Camp Fire Girls make money and wanted to stand out from all the others like the Girl Scouts who sold cookies as a fundraiser.2 The two worked at the Kellogg Company’s home economics department and in 1939 combined the Rice Krispies cereal with melted butter and Campfire brand marshmallows. The recipe for this desert has frequently been printed on the cereal box for decades.

Original c. 1920 Campfire Marshmallows

n the middle of the 20th century, Borden Inc. went on a buying spree which in 1964 included the The Angelus Company brands of Campfire3 (and Cracker Jack). As a novelty collectible, the company made reproductions of the 1910s and 1920s which are easy to distinguish from more valuable originals as they include the Borden’s logo. Unfortunately for Borden, further spending sprees, the large variety of brands and debts incurred acquiring them, proved to be too unwieldy and the company lost brands and was acquired towards the end of the century.

Since 2003, Campfire has been part of the Doumak, Inc which is headquartered just outside of Chicago.4 The company has again embraced the roots of innovation and multiple uses for this confection. 2017 is the hundredth anniversary of Campfire marshmallows and it is aiming to last for at least another century.

Thanks to Doumak, Inc. we can offer this vintage Campfire merchandise on Amazon: