Homemade Marshmallows: Recipes & Tips (Part 2)

[Pam R]

I wonder if it's the fish gelatin. I experimented with it a long time ago and my marshmallows didn't set up like I expected they would - but I didn't try it again to see if it was the gelatin or if perhaps I didn't whip them enough. But all of the commercial kosher marshmallows I get have fish gel. so it should be doable.

If I can find some more fish gel. I'll try them again.

Has anybody else used it successfully?

[Lior]

Oh! I think there is "bovine" (?) gelatin- beef? I don't eat meat so I don't want this kind- and - here most people would rather meat not go with dairy so fish is a safer option for future customers. Does the heat and humidity have an effect?

I must get a proper kitchenaid...

[Pam R]

Oh! I think there is "bovine" (?) gelatin- beef? I don't eat meat so I don't want this kind- and - here most people would rather meat  not go with dairy so fish is a safer option for future customers. Does the heat and humidity have an effect?

I must get a proper kitchenaid...

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I can't get kosher animal gelatin, so I've tried fish and agar agar. No luck with the agar at all, but the fish wasn't terrible. I only tried it the one time though.

I don't think a lot of humidity is good.

[Lior]

Ok, thanks though!

[hummingbirdkiss]

try increasing the amt of the fish gel just a bit I bet that would work

[Lior]

okay. I will let you know! Thanks

[hummingbirdkiss]

if it were me I would use 1 and 1/2 the amt but I am not sure how sticky yours were ..from what it sounds like ..this could not hurt!

so you have firmer marshmallows they are good that way I think !

Edited August 8, 2007 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[JeanneCake]

Oh! I think there is "bovine" (?) gelatin- beef? I don't eat meat so I don't want this kind- and - here most people would rather meat  not go with dairy so fish is a safer option for future customers. Does the heat and humidity have an effect?

I must get a proper kitchenaid...

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I can't get kosher animal gelatin, so I've tried fish and agar agar. No luck with the agar at all, but the fish wasn't terrible. I only tried it the one time though.

I don't think a lot of humidity is good.

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I got 5# of kosher for passover gelatin; the distributor said it was derived from beef but I don't have more information than that. It wouldn't work for Lior but Pam if you're looking for some, let me know - I still have 4# left...

[Lior]

Okay, I am going to try put a photo that I down sized-forgive me if something goes wrong!

marshmallow gooey mess:

[Desiderio]

I just made a batch of Passion fruit marshmallow, I add some Alize to the puree as well.I plan to cover them in El rey milk chocolate, since the combination of milk chocolate and passion fruit was so good in my chocolates ,why not in marshmallows?Will post results.

For Lior , I am sorry about the goey mess.I dont have experience with that type of gelatin , but as others suggested I will try to increse the amount , also I think that the hand beater might not be strong enough to give you a nice result.Do a small batch with more gelatin and experiment with that.Good luck.

[Kerry Beal]

Would you consider a change in recipe that includes gelatin and egg white, might give you a firmer marshmallow?

PM me with your regular e-mail address and I'll send you the recipe from the old Time-Life Candy book, I like the texture of the marshmallows I get with it.

[Desiderio]

The passion fruit marshmallow are very very good.The flavor is nice and not too subtle ,I am very pleased with them.

[Lior]

beautiful! How creative! Now why didn't I think of that!!

[hummingbirdkiss]

The passion fruit marshmallow are very very good.The flavor is nice and not too subtle ,I am very pleased with them.

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those are just stunning! I am not surprised your a pleased with them they are a work of art!

I bet they taste wonderful!

I loved the way passionfruit marshmallows made the kitchen smell they are just so fragrant ...

hmmmm I think I am getting the urge to make some ..I have blueberries and cardamom and someone said those two go good together ..perhaps ....

oh oh here I go again ....

[patris]

First and foremost, let me say that I have been reading these forums for many months and you are an extraordinary and inspiring bunch of people!

I have a minor marshmallow obsession, and wondered if anyone has tried a malted milk ball flavor. I was thinking either incorporating malt powder somehow and dipping the finished product in chocolate, or making my fantastic triple vanilla marshmallow (vanilla sugar, vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste), rolling them in crushed malt balls (without the coating - I can get just the malted bits at a candymaking place around here) and then coating in chocolate.

Anyone conducted any experiments like that?

[Desiderio]

hummingbirdkiss, thank you so much, the smell is surely intoxicating , expecially paired with the smell of el rey milk chocolate ( just perfect for my taste ).

The malted flavor is interesting , i do malted ganache and I aodre it ,I think I would try them :-P .I would use malt either incorporeted in the syrup or in the portion of the liquid.I will repost .Great idea , thank you patris

[gfron1]

This one is for Lior Curry Marshmallow Project #3

For an Indian meal I made. Fresh coconut scoop with chocolate caviar, Cinnamon dacquois over chocolate pastry cream, and hot chocolate with cinnamon, almond and vanilla, with a big swirl of madras curry marshmallow - man I love this stuff!

[Lior]

OMG!!! I just love it!!! I am mad about India and Indian food and all the spices!!! I just came back Eilat, and to get there you have to drive through desert - so I thought about you!! Actually the dry heat is better than humid heat! But whew! You get thirsty all the time! Any info on your dish would be welcome! You are such an artist - I absolutely adore looking at your works of edible art. That marshmellow is great- the shape!!!!! I just love it!

You made my day!! Thanks.

Edited August 19, 2007 by Lior (log)

[tammylc]

Like everybody else on this thread, it seems, once I tried this I just couldn't stop! Saturday was passion fruit, Sunday was strawberry and today was espresso.

My texture got better as the weekend went on. The passion fruit (in the front) are pretty flat. The strawberry (on the right) fluffed up a little more. With the espresso ones (in the back - they're not actually as dark as they look), I thought that I had overheated the sugar syrup, but now I'm wondering if I actually underheated the syrup on the fruit batches, because i think the texture of the espresso is probably more what I'm supposed to be going for. I did a 1/4 batch of the espresso, and after only 6 minutes of whipping it was very stiff, so I stopped. It was also much stickier than the others. The strawberry and passionfruit ones feel kind of moist on your tongue when you eat them, the espresso ones less so. Any comments on that distinction? How sticky and stiff should the finished marshmallow be when you pour it into the tray?

[KrazedMom]

My texture got better as the weekend went on. The passion fruit (in the front) are pretty flat. The strawberry (on the right) fluffed up a little more.  With the espresso ones (in the back - they're not actually as dark as they look), I thought that I had overheated the sugar syrup, but now I'm wondering if I actually underheated the syrup on the fruit batches, because i think the texture of the espresso is probably more what I'm supposed to be going for.  I did a 1/4 batch of the espresso, and after only 6 minutes of whipping it was very stiff, so I stopped.  It was also much stickier than the others. The strawberry and passionfruit ones feel kind of moist on your tongue when you eat them, the espresso ones less so.  Any comments on that distinction?  How sticky and stiff should the finished marshmallow be when you pour it into the tray?

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My fruit ones also seem to come out much softer than the others. Almost like an extremely soft taffy rather than marshmallow-y. I'm interested to see how the others come out. I've made fruit ones probably 10 times and each one has come out this way. Wondering if it's the natural sugar or pectin in the fruit???

[McAuliflower]

How sticky and stiff should the finished marshmallow be when you pour it into the tray?

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I usually whip mine to ~ 10 - 12 minutes.

When i pour it in the pan it is very stiff and sets up very quickly. In fact, the word pour has nothing to do with it- very much a scrap and cajole process.

The longer you whip it, the more air you incorporate, the more chance you give the syrup to cool and stiffen the mix.

I think your flavors (passion fruit!!) are begging for colored swirls .

[tammylc]

How sticky and stiff should the finished marshmallow be when you pour it into the tray?

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I usually whip mine to ~ 10 - 12 minutes.

When i pour it in the pan it is very stiff and sets up very quickly. In fact, the word pour has nothing to do with it- very much a scrap and cajole process.

The longer you whip it, the more air you incorporate, the more chance you give the syrup to cool and stiffen the mix.

I think your flavors (passion fruit!!) are begging for colored swirls .

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It was your 1/4 recipe that came out so stiff, whereas my full recipes made from nightscotsman's recipe came out softer. Are there any other differences between the two recipes, or is yours really just 1/4 of his? The fruit ones were definitely warmer when I put them into the pan, so it's likely I just needed to let them whip longer to cool and stiffen - they were very soft and pourable, not really sticky at all like the espresso one was.

What temperature do you cook the syrup to?

I definitely want to try the colored swirls. Next time. (I sense much marshmallow making in my future.) Lemon is high on the list.

Thanks!

[tammylc]

Oh, and I thought I should note that espresso marshmallows made the best smores. As soon as I tasted the marshmallows, I said "these will be really good with chocolate" and I was right.

I know a bunch of people have talked about coffee marshmallows in this thread, but I didn't see any details. I substituted freshly brewed espresso for all the liquid in the gelatin step. My husband the coffee geek warned me that the espresso would get bitter if I let it stand to cool down, so I threw an ice cube in to cool it faster - meaning the resulting liquid was slightly watered down espresso. The bitterness of the coffee offsets the sweet marshmallow very nicely - definitely a grown-up flavor.

My husband also makes cold-filtered coffee, and I'm going to try making marshmallows from that next time he has some around.

[David J.]

I've got a question on how keep this pourable long enough to get it into a 1/4" deep frame for the first of a dual layer ganache (Peter Greweling's Hot Chocolate truffles).

This is my first try after whipping for 10-12 minutes:

It was a struggle to get into the frame and by the time I tried to level it off with my 12" wide scraper it was already set too hard which resulted in a mess. I had an indent that I tried to fill which just made it worse.

Then I tried a second time and let this one whip for only five minutes:

It was a little easier to get into the frame and spread around before my level scraping, but it too was pretty well set by the time I got done which resulted in a less than steller surface.

Would it help to use a heat gun on on/in the bowl as it whips to keep it flowing a little better, or would that just mess it up?

Any other tips?

[patris]

Tammy - if it helps at all, I used about 2 tablespoons of instant espresso in the blooming water (I don't use Nightscotsman's recipe, I don't think, but the components seem to be the same). The espresso dissolves quickly in cold water and gives a really pronounced, but not overbearing, flavor. I also subbed out the white sugar and light corn syrup with dark brown sugar and dark corn syrup, which lends an extra bitter-sweetish thing that I love. Funny you call it a grown-up flavor - my sister said the same thing when she called me in despair that she'd devoured the samples I gave her.

David - I find that underbeating, while it takes longer for the finished product to set up to a nice cuttable consistency, not only makes spreading easier but results in a lovely, creamy texture. I don't so much go by time as by look - about 30 seconds after big sticky "threads" of marshmallow begin to appear between the sides of the bowl and the beater is when I call it quits. The couple times I kept track of timing, it ended up to be about 7 minutes. I would stick with underbeating and work like a maniac to get it spread quickly - I generally use my (gloved) hands sprayed with pan spray to pat mine out evenly. I never could find a spreader that worked for me.

It makes me so happy to see this thread popping up again with more regularity!