Welcome to eGullet! My marshmallows never lasted a week, so I can't comment on the crunchiness problem. They did get a little drier and firmer after a few days. What color are your marshmallows; they look pink. Thanks for the tip about the handmixer; who woulda thunk this would work. Bet it's good for developing arm muscles (better than a trip to the gym.) ← Thanks so much for the welcome. That's a bummer about the short shelf-life of our marshmallows. I feel like they should last longer! The marshmallows I made are pink and white swirl. I put a few drops of red food coloring in the mix right before I pour it and I swirl it around with a knife. They come out all pink and white marbly and VERY PRETTY. Actually, my whole reason for making marshmallows came from buying those fancypants ones from Whole Foods. They were selling the tiny trapeze brand, peppermint swirl and I was addicted to them. When I went to go back to get a second bag, they were out of them and tiny trapeze never responded to my emails, so I made my own instead and I must say, I prefer them! Ya, the hand mixer works great, even though it's just a pain to hold it. That seems to be the only difference. I had never owned a handmixer, but I bought one to SPECIFICALLY make marshmallows and now I'm a bit out of control. My roommate is vegetarian and I tried to make them from agar agar but it failed miserablely. I had the same experience JustKay did with it not fluffing up. I did end up making him a very nice jar of marshmallow fluff instead. He was thrilled and made fluffernutter sandwiches.