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Dessert

Marshmallow Paste

A sweet paste made from sugar, milk, marshmallows, hot water, and vanilla.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Marshmallow Paste

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine sugar and milk in a saucepan.

  2. Heat slowly to boiling point without stirring, then boil for 6 minutes.

Melt the marshmallows

  1. Break marshmallows into pieces.

  2. Melt the marshmallows in a double boiler.

  3. Add hot water to the melted marshmallows.

  4. Cook until smooth.

Combine and finish

  1. Gradually add the hot syrup to the marshmallow mixture.

  2. Stir constantly.

  3. Beat the mixture until cool enough to spread.

  4. Add vanilla.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Sweetens the paste and, when boiled, forms the syrup that gives it body.
Marshmallows
Provide the bulk of the paste and set it into a spreadable, sticky mass as they melt.
Milk
Dissolves the sugar into the syrup and adds softness and a mild dairy flavour.
Hot water
Loosens the melted marshmallows so they blend smoothly with the syrup.

The step that matters

Gradually add the hot syrup to the marshmallow mixture. Adding hot syrup slowly and stirring constantly lets the sugar blend evenly and prevents lumps or a grainy texture. Beating while it cools then helps the paste become thick and spreadable.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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