What’s better than marshmallows roasted over a fire or melted in hot chocolate? In our house, mini marshmallows have been known to be used as a bribe for piano practicing. Now that we’ve tasted homemade marshmallows, I may be on the hook to make these treats on a regular basis.

Known as Guimauve or Chamallow in French, marshmallows are actually very simple to make. Here are the raw materials in marshmallows:


The something sweet in this recipe is sugar and corn syrup (but other types of syrup such as maple syrup or dextrose could be used in varying amounts). The emulsifier for texture consists of gelatin and whipped egg whites in Dorie’s recipe. As for the flavoring, I followed the classic recipe and included only vanilla, but the sky’s the limit on this. I saw recipes for peppermint, lemon, cinnamon sugar, and even banana and parsley! Dorie’s recipe is basically marshmallows made with a meringue and gelatin added in for texture. Once you’ve mastered meringue, you can soon be in “fluff heaven”.

History
The root of the mallow plant (Althea Officinalis) was used to make the first marshmallows dating as far back as 2000BC. The leaves and roots of the plant are both edible, but the gooey mucilage (jelly-like sap) from the roots give the marshmallow their texture. Modern marshmallows were first made in France around 1850, according to this article.

I wanted to try an original recipe for marshmallows using marshmallow root powder, but the health food stores here don’t have it right now. I’ll have to give that a go someday.

from Link

Something sweet
The sugar, water, and corn syrup are melted together to form a sugar syrup. The corn syrup stabilizes the syrup and inhibits re-crystallization of the sugar. You cook the syrup to the hard-ball stage (250°F–265°F). Here is a great site that explains the different stages of sugar syrup.

It might be fun to play around with different sugar combinations, such as using maple sugar, golden corn syrup, glucose or dextrose.

Here’s a tip I found useful: By pouring in the syrup carefully (not into the beaters or it will spray), you'll get a lot more “fluff” in your marshmallow mixture.

Hands-free potato starch
Potato starch is a gluten-free starch that, in this recipe, is only used to avoid the stickiness that comes with making and working with marshmallows. You can use cornstarch too. I found that I didn’t need a full cup of potato starch.

Emulsifier agent: code name gelatin
Warning: The following contains scenes that some may find highly unpleasant!

Gelatin is processed collagen found in many animals. The gelatin in sheet or leaf gelatin and powdered gelatin is the collagen from cow or pig bones, hooves, and connective tissues. This is what makes marshmallows spongy. Marshmallows don’t seem so delicious after reading this!

At Cooking for Engineers (an amazing cooking site BTW), one of the commenters on the marshmallow recipe explained that “marshmallows require a protein to be stretched and partially coagulated around air bubbles to make a suspensoid, or an emulsion of air in a semisolid”. There’s that word again: emulsion. Getting two foods to talk to each other is a full-time job for a chef, it seems!

Gelatin is a fussy sort, too. Gelatin has to be handled in a certain way in order to dissolve, heat, melt and then use in a recipe, otherwise the recipe won't become jelled when cooled. First, Dorie has us dissolve the gelatin in some cold water in a heat-proof bowl. After it has “bloomed”, it is heated in the microwave to re-liquify it. But don’t let the gelatin mixture come to a boil or it will have to be thrown out.

Egg whites: another emulsifying agent
Using egg whites in the marshmallows makes them lighter and fluffier. The eggs should be at room temperature so that the proteins will expand more easily. The process for making marshmallows is just like an Italian meringue with the addition of gelatin. However, you can make marshmallows without eggs too. (See the recipe tested at Cooking for Engineers.)

Flavorings
Here’s where you can get creative. Coconut, rosewater and pistachios, almond and maraschino, caramel, green tea and adzuki bean, mint and orange craisin. Dorie has variations for raspberry, cappuccino, chocolate, and pumpkin spice. These are all on my list of variations to try!