Skip to main content
Dessert

Cheap Marshmallows

A sweet confection made from sugar, glucose, gelatin, and flavoring, beaten until fluffy and coated with starch.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sugar and gelatin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,778 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cheap Marshmallows

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Dissolve sugar and glucose in water and cook to 240°F (115°C).

  2. Turn off the heat and add the dissolved gelatin.

Whip and finish

  1. Start the mixer and gradually add the frappe powder.

  2. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

  3. Add flavoring to taste.

  4. Stop the mixer and coat with starch as desired.

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. Sugar + gelatintop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Sugar
Provides sweetness and, when cooked, the syrup structure that sets the marshmallow.
Glucose
Inhibits sugar crystallization, keeping the texture smooth and soft rather than grainy.
Gelatin
Forms a flexible gel network that traps air and gives the marshmallow its elastic body.
Frappe powder
Stabilizes the whipped foam, helping it hold air and stay light and fluffy.

The step that matters

Adding the gelatin off the heat. Gelatin is damaged by high heat, so it should be added only after the syrup is removed from the burner. Adding it while the syrup is still boiling can weaken its gelling power and leave the marshmallow limp.

“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.

You might also like

White CakeWhite Cake431 recipesPound CakePound Cake373 recipesOrange Bundt CakeOrange Bundt Cake349 recipesSpice CakeSpice Cake344 recipes