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Dessert

Marshmallow Paste

A sweet, airy paste made with gum arabic, powdered sugar, flavoring, egg whites, gelatin, honey, and cornstarch.

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

Marshmallow Paste

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak 1 tablespoon of gelatin in cold water until soft.

  2. In a bowl, combine gum arabic, powdered sugar, and flavoring.

Make the paste

  1. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form.

  2. Fold the egg whites into the sugar mixture.

  3. Add the softened gelatin and honey, mixing well.

  4. Pour into molds to set.

Finish and serve

  1. Once set, dust with cornstarch before serving.

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).

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

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

  3. Vanilla + honeytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,262 recipes

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

  4. Vanilla + gelatintop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together924 recipes

    Shared aroma: maltol (caramel, sweet).

  5. Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 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

Egg whites
Whipped to stiff peaks, they trap air and give the paste its light, airy structure.
Gelatin
Once softened and dissolved, it sets the mixture so it holds its shape in the molds.
Fine powdered sugar
Adds sweetness and bulk, helping the paste stay firm and smooth.
Gum arabic
Acts as a stabilizer that helps the paste hold together and keep a smooth texture.
Honey
Adds sweetness and moisture, keeping the paste soft and slightly tender.

The step that matters

Fold the egg whites into the sugar mixture. Egg whites whipped to stiff peaks hold a lot of trapped air. Folding gently keeps that air in, so the paste stays light; stirring hard deflates it and makes the texture dense.

“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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