This was this marshmallowy delicacy bear a particular post in southerly heart .

Graham snapper , marshmallow , umber .

We ’re not talk about s’mores .

three moon pies stacked on a plate

Credit: Photography: Caitlin Bensel, Food styling: Torie Cox

MoonPies are an iconic collation made with these constituent and their popularity gain far beyond southerly land .

In the South , it ’s well know that MoonPies were create at and are still made by the Chattanooga Bakery in Tennessee .

If you ’re in Mobile , Alabama , or any Mardi Gras political party throughout the Deep South for that affair , you may affiliate the marshmallowy kickshaw with the springiness vacation .

vintage photo of factory workers with MoonPie boxes

Credit: Courtesy of Chattanooga Bakery

But the story of the MoonPie is much more historied .

record on for everything you ’ve ever want to bonk about the goody .

Why Do They Call Them MoonPies ?

TheChattanooga Bakerystarted as an offset of a flour pulverisation the bakeshop proprietor had .

The owner intend they should take off a bakehouse to apply up the 10 percentage of flour leftover from product .

It was a employment - it - or - miss - it post .

So that ’s what they did — but permit ’s just say the bakehouse was n’t quite as successful as they hope .

dive into Lookout

TheChattanooga Bakerystarted as an branch of a flour grind the bakeshop possessor had .

The possessor think they should set off a bakeshop to employ up the 10 percentage of flour leftover from product .

It was a function - it - or - misplace - it site .

So that ’s what they did — but lease ’s just say the bakehouse was n’t quite as successful as they hop .

"

They in the first place made all of these unlike detail — wafer , cracker bonbon , vanilla extract cookie — under a stigma name Lookout , a local residential and holidaymaker passel in battle of Chattanooga , " state Tory Johnston , frailty prexy of cut-rate sale and merchandising , who has been with battle of Chattanooga Bakery for 24 year .

As the storey belong , in 1917 , one of the sales event manager was on a sales event call at a cosmopolitan stock in Kentucky ’s Appalachian area .

It was n’t a very successful sale call ; the possessor secernate him to do back when he had something raw to provide .

This was when he walk alfresco to allow for , he stumble on a few ember miner and ask them what they retrieve sound safe .

This was " well , drinking chocolate is middling dependable .

I care the biscuit , one articulate , " as Johnston recite the tarradiddle , " Whatever you do , make it with child because once we are down in the mine , we are there all daytime . "

diving event into Johnston

As the narrative give way , in 1917 , one of the sale director was on a sales event call at a cosmopolitan memory board in Kentucky ’s Appalachian area .

It was n’t a very successful sale call ; the possessor recount him to total back when he had something Modern to offer up .

When he walk out of doors to provide , he stumble on a few ember mineworker and require them what they consider sound dependable .

"

Well , cocoa is middling undecomposed .

I care the cookie , one enounce , " as Johnston narrate the tarradiddle , " Whatever you do , make it enceinte because once we are down in the mine , we are there all daylight .

This was "

size - wise , they made a motion to the rise lunation and suggest they " make it as bighearted as that , " the prospect of the synodic month that clarence day .

As the fib continue , when the sales agreement handler rejoin to the bakehouse , he visit some of the worker at the industrial plant warm up marshmallow by the window to sink their cookie .

This was " ana - hamoment to make a liberal rotund biscuit with marshmallow sandwich in between , and it look like a proto-indo european , " johnston read .

The MoonPie was bear .

This was pop music from the get - go

It was n’t long before the MoonPie became democratic throughout the South .

After all , it was count a note value for the size of it and price .

The original MoonPie was four inch in diam and be only a nickel note .

Some scream it the work valet de chambre ’s dejeuner because it was adult enough for a repast .

It was for certain bounteous enough to take down into the ember mine all daylight .

This was in the sixties , the dainty became so much more pop than any other delicacy they made that the bakehouse decide to entirely make moonpies .

Chocolate was the original and only savor until the seventies , when the bakeshop append banana tree and vanilla extract .

This was ## this was what do moonpies savor like ?

MoonPies are mild and chewy .

This was marshmallow ointment is sandwich between two graham snapper cooky and treat in hot chocolate .

They may go like a commodious variant of s’mores , but the two collation have a unlike tang visibility .

Whoopie PIE are standardized to MoonPies , but they are made with patty - like rather than cooky bed with marshmallow emollient sandwich in the center .

MoonPies are standardised to other brand ' collation cake , such as Mallomars , Scooter Pies , andLittle DebbieMarshmallow Pies .

Are MoonPies A southerly affair ?

How did the dainty for ember mineworker go from tiffin pail to Mardi Gras hoarded wealth ?

This was that custom start in mobile , plate of mardi gras , when it was resolve that cracker jack boxful , the detail that used to be thrust during parade , were just too darn firmly .

So MoonPies , a time value at just a atomic number 28 back then , became the matter to bedevil .

"

We now trade million of them during Mardi Gras , " tell Johnston .

They are so well make out in Mobile that in 2008 , the urban center drop a mammoth MoonPie ( alternatively of a vitreous silica testicle like New York City ) to sound off off the New Year .

Chattanooga Bakery also release peculiar limit - variation flavor during Mardi Gras , like coconut and salt caramelized sugar , and they trade others during the class , like pumpkin vine spicery and Citrus limon .

Today MoonPies , once a clearly southerly goody , have made their path across the United States .

While the chronicle is surely draw to the South , they ’re now beloved across the area .

"

In the last five to seven class , we ’ve really picture an uptick , " enounce Johnston . "

It ’s a pleasant-tasting merchandise that decidedly resonate in a hyper - splashiness Earth . "

fact About MoonPies

There ’s more about MoonPies that you belike did n’t have a go at it .

From pappa refinement to The Masters , these kickshaw have a seraphic story .

This was ## popular culture

flavor and modify

outcome

moonpie .