Many times, I have devoured carbonized marshmallows and wieners roasted over an outdoor campfire. That was before charcoal cookers that so many use today.

Back then, we didn’t have nice metal skewers. We used small limbs. After removing leaves, with a knife we would cut and taper a point thus making it easier to attach the marshmallow.

Whether at a Boy or Girl Scout camp or outing, family picnic, or any gathering around an outdoor campfire, a wiener or marshmallow roast was the highlight of the occasion for many.

That sweet fluffy marshmallow actually comes from a plant, Althaea officinalis, an herb that is native to Europe and West Asia.

Originally, marshmallow extracts from the roots and leaves of the plant were used in treating wounds and inflammation. It was noticeably effective in treating sore throats.

Then in the 19th century, somebody in France did some tweeking on the marshmallow extract gummy juices and combined them with eggs and sugar beaten into a foamy paste.

Later, as more experimentation was made, the extracts were replaced with a gelatin.

Popularity began to increase and by the 1920s, a number of new edible products such as the Moon Pie and the spreadable marshmallow fluff were delighting the taste buds of millions.

Tapioca is another tasty product that is derived from a plant root. The plant is best known as “cassava.” This plant is found in Brazil, Thailand and Nigeria.

Most of us know of it as pudding, but it is also a food thickener.

Before it can become a consumable, edible product, it must go through a process to remove poisonous product, linamarin, a cyanogenic glycoside that occurs in the plant.

Baking soda is one product that is not food but is essential in the baking of cookies, pies, cookies and other foods.

Though it can be manmade, natural baking soda comes from the earth. It is a found in trona ore, a hard crystalline material found in Green River, Wyo.

The ore was formed during the Eocene era (40 to 50 million years ago) when a large lake evaporated leaving deposits of pure trona, enough to provide the world with baking soda for thousands of years. It is found 1,500 feet below the surface of the earth and covers an area of 24 square miles.

The soda ash industry in the Green River Basin produces approximately 11 million tons annually. This accounts for 95 per cent of the U.S. production.

Talc is a white mineral found in Austria, Italy, France and Canada and here in the USA in California, North Carolina, Georgia, Montana and Texas. This mineral is used in making many products including paper, paints, pottery, soap, and of course, as most of us know it best, talcum powder.

Borax is found in deposits in seasonal lakes and is formed by evaporation. Commercial deposits are found in Turkey, Bolivia, Tibet, Romania, and the Atacama desert in Chile. The commercial deposits in the USA are found at Boron, Calif., and Searles Lake, Calif.

There are many uses for borax, in household laundry and cleaning products. It is also used as a flux in metallurgy, as a fire retardant and in cosmetics. Other uses include preservative in taxidermy, for stopping car radiator and engine block leaks, and in some products for control of stubborn insect pests.

Salt is probably the most used product that is formed by nature. It too is formed by evaporation.

The United States is the largest producer of salt and Texas is one of the largest salt producing states.

Four hundred feet below the city of Grand Saline, Texas, is one of the largest salt mines.

This salt mine consists of a 20,000-foot-tall pile of pure salt and was left by an ancient sea 250 million years ago.

Long before the arrival of settlers, the native American Indians were obtaining salt from the area by evaporation of water from the salt marshes. The Republic of Texas Army took control of the salt operations developing a small plant. The Confederacy took over operation during the Civil War, mining around 500 pounds a day. Then in 1920 Morton Salt Company took over ownership.

Eleven years later, Morton drilled two shafts and found the hidden mountain.

In time, tours of the underground mine were conducted but in the 1960s, safety regulations put an end to the tours.

Closer to us is the Hockley Salt Mine in Harris County.