The marshmallow crop in NC is ruint...
Ha!
I'll bet a lot of people would believe this.
= new reply since forum marked as read
were having us a marsh mellow roast in the back yard a while back and they sent me to the store to get the marsh mellows. Grand Daughter (8 YO,) told me Papa we want the big ones, not them tiny little things. In hind sight I think big ones she meant the ones like we're all used to using for this very thing and the tiny ones like the ones like you might find in a mug of hot chocolate. Anyways off to the store I trudge and to my surprise they had some really big marsh mellows, I mean a good two inches in diameter so I get them and head on home thinking I did good. When I get out of the truck and grand daughter sees the size of the marsh mellows I have she says Hollie Mollie papa we didn't mean that big. None of us had seen that big of a marsh mellow before. We all three got a kick out of it and went on about our marsh mellow roasting, laughing at the size of them the whole time. Hey you could toast them, eat the outer good part and toast them again two more times before the centers were so soft to fall off the stick.
Anyways if was loads of fun to be had by all 
And yeah, I can see how you could get away with roasting them multiple times. Or just put them in the top of a stockpot of hot chocolate and tell the kids it's a cup for the giant next door 
I needed that
This delicious sweet developed a new form when, in the 1800s, candy makers in France took the sap from marshmallow plants and combined it with egg whites and sugar. The mixture was whipped by hand and took the form of the marshmallow we all know today. Since they were no longer reserved for people of high status, the demand for marshmallows among the public required candy makers to speed up the production process, so they developed a system known as the starch mogul system. The starch mogul system used corn starch molds to form the marshmallows.
Additional changes to the recipe were also made. Candy makers replaced the sap taken from the marshmallow plant with gelatin, which enabled the marshmallow mixture to maintain its form and reduced the labor intensive process of extracting the sap from the mallow plant. The gelatin was combined with corn syrup, starch, sugar, gelatin, and water to create the fluffy texture of the marshmallow. The gelatin ingredient is essential in extending the shelf life of marshmallows because of the moisture it infuses into the candy. Thus, by replacing the previous egg whites with gelatin, marshmallows maintain their beloved elastic and spongy qualities much longer than they had previously.
http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/01/marshmallows-were-originally-made-from-the-sap-of-the-marshmallow-plant/
There is a whole family of flowering plants known as mallows; the marsh mallow (when written as two words, the plant is meant) was brought to NA from Europe and is now a well-established wild plant in many areas.
Althaea officinalis, the Marsh Mallow
So, someone has to be farming it, if only for that
Here's some info on its uses that way:
---Parts Used---Leaves, root and flowers. The leaves are picked in August, when the flowers are just coming into bloom. They should be stripped off singly and gathered only on a fine day, in the morning, after the dew has been dried off by the sun.
---Constituents---Marsh Mallow contains starch, mucilage, pectin, oil, sugar, asparagin, phosphate of lime, glutinous matter and cellulose.
---Medicinal Action and Uses---The great demulcent and emollient properties of Marsh Mallow make it useful in inflammation and irritation of the alimentary canal, and of the urinary and respiratory organs. The dry roots boiled in water give out half their weight of a gummy matter like starch. Decoctions of the plant, especially of the root, are very useful where the natural mucus has been abraded from the coats of the intestines, The decoction can be made by adding 5 pints of water to 1/4 lb. of dried root, boiling down to 3 pints and straining: it should not be made too thick and viscid. It is excellent in painful complaints of the urinary organs, exerting a relaxing effect upon the passages, as well as acting curatively. This decoction is also effective in curing bruises, sprains or any ache in the muscles or sinews. In haemorrhage from the urinary organs and in dysentery, it has been recommended to use the powdered root boiled in milk. The action of Marsh Mallow root upon the bowels is unaccompanied by any astringency.
Boiled in wine or milk, Marsh Mallow will relieve diseases of the chest, constituting a popular remedy for coughs, bronchitis, whooping-cough, etc., generally in combination with other remedies. It is frequently given in the form of a syrup, which is best adapted to infants and children.
(more at link above)
