Sugar Rush Marshmallows features a variety of gourmet marshmallows, from stuffed to boozy.

Marshmallows have fascinated Julie Summers ever since she was a child, and now she can’t escape their gooey grasp.

Her foray into the marshmallow business began with a simple experiment in the kitchen. She found a basic marshmallow recipe and decided to give it a whirl. Then, her creative juices kicked in.

“Julie was on a kick where she was making something every day,” said her partner and soon-to-be-wife, Jean Starnes. “And you can’t just make one marshmallow. You have to make a bunch of them.”

Because there were only so many marshmallows that the couple could consume themselves, Starnes began bringing them to work to share with her coworkers.

Within months, requests for Summers’ marshmallows were trickling in from friends and family.

“Somebody had to eat them, so we were getting a lot of feedback,” Starnes said. “For birthdays and holidays, people were asking (Julie) to bring the marshmallows.”

Then East End Market invited the women to participate in a feedback fair, which was an invaluable experience for Summers and Starnes and opened new opportunities.

As demand increased, the two were faced with a decision: should they go into the marshmallow business?

The answer was a resounding yes, and Sugar Rush Marshmallows was launched last May.

“It’s such a cool dessert, and you can make them into anything,” Summers said.

The flavors range from classic vanilla to churro, but it doesn’t end there. Summers created stuffed marshmallows, which she fills with anything from Nutella to caramel, and a line of adult-only marshmallows infused with liquor.

To get the business off the ground, Starnes quit her job to lend Summers an hand in the kitchen. Everything is made from scratch.

Their marshmallow base begins with a pure cane sugar syrup that must be carefully cooked by hand. Once the base is complete, then Summers and Starnes begin making batches of marshmallows. A single batch takes about an hour to make. Then it must set up for 24 hours before it is cut into squares.

“We cook 40 hours a week and sell four days a week,” Starnes said. “It’s all we do, but it’s a really fun thing to do together.”

To uphold the quality of each marshmallow, Summers also found a way to create her own extracts.

Even though making everything from scratch adds to the cooking time, it helps keep the marshmallows free of allergens, Summers said.

Since November, business has significantly increased for the marshmallow duo. A batch that used to last a month now doesn’t last more than week.

And Summers is still experimenting.

Now, in addition to marshmallows, she’s created a homemade, gourmet graham cracker and her own version of marshmallow fluff.

“We’re definitely targeting adults more than kids,” Starnes said. “We’re trying to remind people of a time when they were much happier and when times were much simpler.”

During the weekends, Summers and Starnes can be found at a variety of farmers markets: Winter Garden Farmers Market, Windermere Farmer’s Market, Audubon Park Community Market, Cagan's Crossings Farmers Market and the Lakefront Farmer’s Market at Summerport Village.

“We’re still learning and growing and figuring everything out,” Summers said.

Contact Brittany Gaines at [email protected].