Day 74: Making mellow mallows

There’s something preposterous about the idea of making marshmallows, that is one of the main reasons why I’ve never considered attempting it. Even when including them in my wedding cake, for our completely vegetarian wedding, I bought some from the States rather than try to make my own in my quest to avoid animal gelatine. I mean, marshmallows just appear like that, right?

Well, actually, yes, right: since marshmallows are a plant. And the confection is named after a dessert made by whipping its sap. These days, they make them in factories, or, it turns out, your home kitchen.

I confess to having purchased a marshmallow ‘kit’ from M&S, but if I’m honest ended up feeling it was something of a swizz given that it was basically measured-out icing sugar (a bit of cornflour?) and gelatine, to which you added water, heated and whipped. Then poured in the chocolate-orange sauce from another packet. I gather that these are everyday ingredients that I could have just read a recipe to put together.

Nevertheless, the result was indeed a magical one. A tray of sticky-sweet confection that impressed the in-laws when presented as a Christmas-period gift and was declared ‘the best they’ve ever tasted’. Which is good for something so easy, and most importantly, fun and playful to make!

Life is a marshmallow, easy to chew but hard to swallow – Francis Bacon

Ease of play: 4/10 (boiling sugar!)

Resemblance to play: 5/10 

Aggression: Low

Speed: Medium

Enjoyability: Low-to-Medium

Potential frequency of play: Low (depending on your sugar tolerance!)