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Dessert

Pure Marshmallow

A confection made from gum arabic, sugar, egg whites, and flavoring, cooked into a soft, set mass.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Pure Marshmallow

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gum syrup

  1. Pulverize the gum arabic and dissolve it in ½ gallon of water using a double boiler method.

  2. Strain the dissolved gum through a fine sieve into a clean candy kettle.

Make the marshmallow

  1. Add 2 lbs of fine sugar and heat on moderate fire, stirring until it forms a soft ball in cold water.

  2. Gradually add the well-beaten egg whites, stirring from side to center.

  3. Test the mixture; if it doesn't stick, add vanilla or rose oil for flavor.

Set and cut

  1. Pour into a pan dusted with starch and let it set.

  2. Once set, cut into squares or strips.

  3. Optionally, chocolate‑coat some pieces.

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

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

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

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

  3. 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

Gum arabic
Dissolved into water to form the elastic gel that gives marshmallow its structure and chew.
Egg whites
Beaten to foam, trapping air that gives the marshmallow its light, airy texture.
Fine sugar
Cooked into a syrup that adds sweetness and helps the mixture set firm and glossy.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten egg whites. Egg whites must be well beaten and added gradually while stirring, so the foam stays evenly distributed. Pouring them in all at once or under-beating can deflate the foam and leave a dense, uneven texture.

“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.

More marshmallow recipes

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