Name: Marshmallow Filling
Ingredients: 4 cups sugar; 1 quart water; ½ cup glucose; 1 pint egg whites; ¼ cup gum arabic or gum tragacanth, dissolved in ½ pint warm water; vanilla extract, to taste

Why it works: Sugar and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes. Both carry beta-damascenone, which smells apple, rose. The science ↓

Marshmallow Filling

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

In a saucepan, combine sugar, water, and glucose. Boil until it reaches 242°F (117°C).
While the sugar mixture is boiling, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Combine and finish

Once the sugar mixture is ready, pour it into the egg whites in a thin, gentle stream while continuing to beat.
Add the dissolved gum arabic or gum tragacanth and vanilla extract, and beat until well combined.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together35,032 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together122,807 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg + vanillatop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together27,347 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

Egg whites: Whipped into a foam that traps air, giving the filling its light, airy structure.
Sugar: Sweetens the filling and, boiled into syrup, provides the body that sets the foam.
Glucose: Inhibits sugar crystallization, keeping the syrup smooth and the filling from turning grainy.
Gum arabic or gum tragacanth: Stabilizes the foam and adds body, helping the marshmallow hold its shape.

The step that matters

Pouring the hot syrup into the egg whites. The syrup must be added in a thin, steady stream while beating. Pouring it too fast or in one go can deflate the foam or cook the whites unevenly, and the syrup should reach 242°F so the mixture sets properly.

“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.