Marshmallows

[artiesel]

Hi all,

 

I was wondering if anyone has any experience making marshmallows in a 80-qt. mixer and, if so, if they could share any pointers and/or advice when making marshmallows in such a large scale?

 

Thanks

[RobertM]

Wow....I wish I did.... and will be anxiously awaiting your report and photographs.....

 

[Gwbyls]

Hey all, I need some help. I am looking for Nightscottsman's marshmallow recipe.  Every link that I have found ends up in a "page not found" link.  The last time I made (delicious) marshmallow was a year ago and have the recipe that I used written without instructions. I'm pretty sure it is his recipe,  but can't confirm. It uses 2 gelatin envelops. Can anyone help me out with the link or the directions? Thanks in advance!

 

[Tri2Cook]

Rather than dig for the original post, I'm going to assume this is ok since it's been posted many times...

Nightscotsman Strawberry Marshmallows
4 envelopes gelatin
1/2 c strawberry puree
1 1/4 c water
3 c sugar
1-1/4 c glucose or light corn syrup
1/4 tsp salt
powdered sugar and potato starch for dusting

Line a sheet pan with a 1" rim with aluminum foil. coat the foil with vegetable oil or non-stick spray. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment.
Place the strawberry puree and 1/2 cup water in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the gelatin over to soften.
Put the sugar, corn syrup, remaining water and salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until it reaches the soft-ball stage (234-240 F).
With the mixer at full speed, pour all of the hot syrup slowly down the side of the bowl. Be careful as the mixture is very liquid and hot at this point and some may splash out of the bowl - use a splash guard if you have one. whip until the mixture is very fluffy and stiff, about 8-10 minutes. pour mixture into the foil-lined pan and smooth with an oiled offset spatula so that it's level with the top of the rim (it won't completely fill the pan). Allow the mixture to sit, uncovered at room temp for 10 to 12 hours.
Mix equal parts powdered sugar and potato starch and sift generously over the rested marshmallow slab. Turn it out onto a cutting board or counter, peel off foil and dust with more sugar/starch mixture. Slice with a thin-bladed oiled knife or oiled cookie cutters. Dip all cut edges in sugar/starch mixture and shake off excess. Marshmallows will keep several weeks at room temp in an air-tight container.

Variation - Chocolate Marshmallows:
Replace strawberry puree and initial 1/2 cup of water in mixing bowl with 1/2 cup of cocoa disolved in 1/2 cup boiling water in a separate bowl. Soften gelatine in an additional 1/4 cup cold water in mixing bowl. Add cocoa mixture to mixing bowl and procede with recipe as above. This will produce a marshmallow with a strong chocolate flavor, but somewhat denser than the strawberry version. To get a lighter texture as well as a lighter chocolate flavor, reduce cocoa to 1/4 cup.

Variation - Vanilla Marshmallows:
Replace strawberry puree and initial 1/2 cup of water in mixing bowl with 3/4 cup water and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or the seeds scraped from 2 vanilla beans.

Edit: I saved it to a text file on my computer a long time ago when I was doing a marshmallow marathon of flavors one year just to see what I liked and didn't like. It's a really easy recipe to make variations on.

Edit again: In the interest of having this accurate to nightscotsman's recipe as given, I altered it back to original. I'd forgotten that when I put it in my notes, I used straight 1 cup puree to hydrate the gelatin instead of the 1/2 cup puree and 1/2 cup water he calls for because that's how I was doing mine.

Edited July 2, 2018 by Tri2Cook (log)

[Gwbyls]

Thanks so much! I think this is the recipe I wrote down (I must have converted it to grams), but it looks similar. I appreciate it. I remember when I made it last year, I couldn't stay out of it. They were so good. I tried a different recipe last week and did not have the same reaction. This one is a keeper! 

Thanks!

[Tri2Cook]

7 minutes ago, Gwbyls said:

Thanks so much! I think this is the recipe I wrote down (I must have converted it to grams), but it looks similar. I appreciate it. I remember when I made it last year, I couldn't stay out of it. They were so good. I tried a different recipe last week and did not have the same reaction. This one is a keeper! 

Thanks!

If I was doing it frequently or in varying batch sizes, I'd probably convert the measurements to weight as well. I haven't used the recipe in years but you never know when a tested recipe will be just the thing you need for a project so I held on to it.

[Anna N]

Here?

 

 

[Tri2Cook]

25 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Here?

 

 

That's the one. I'd forgotten that I replaced his combination of 1/2 cup puree and 1/2 cup water he uses to hydrate the gelatin with just straight puree. I should probably change that in the one I posted accordingly since it has his name on it. Just in the interest of accuracy.

[Gwbyls]

Thanks to you both. I made it today and it is exactly as I remember it. Thanks again!

 

[JeanneCake]

I have been using this recipe (nightscotman's) for years, mostly for vanilla marshmallows to top our smore's tarts - and  I've made blackberry, passionfruit, cherry,  raspberry and strawberry over the years. One time I wanted to make blue ones (vanilla ones colored blue) and added blue gel color and while it worked, the marshmallows were different and not in a great way.  

 

I'd like to make flavors other than using a puree for flavor - like using an extract (Amoretti is having a 15% off sale til tomorrow night).  There are a few marshmallow shops  making all kinds of flavors/varieties and I'm wondering how it's done.  Do they use an extract? Water or oil based?  Powder (like freeze dried mangos or bananas pulverized in a food processor?)

 

Do you who make marshmallows use different recipes when you want a specific flavor or do you use a base recipe like this and add some kind of flavoring agent like an extract, concentrated oil, powder or compound?

[patris]

58 minutes ago, JeanneCake said:

I have been using this recipe (nightscotman's) for years, mostly for vanilla marshmallows to top our smore's tarts - and  I've made blackberry, passionfruit, cherry,  raspberry and strawberry over the years. One time I wanted to make blue ones (vanilla ones colored blue) and added blue gel color and while it worked, the marshmallows were different and not in a great way.  

 

I'd like to make flavors other than using a puree for flavor - like using an extract (Amoretti is having a 15% off sale til tomorrow night).  There are a few marshmallow shops  making all kinds of flavors/varieties and I'm wondering how it's done.  Do they use an extract? Water or oil based?  Powder (like freeze dried mangos or bananas pulverized in a food processor?)

 

Do you who make marshmallows use different recipes when you want a specific flavor or do you use a base recipe like this and add some kind of flavoring agent like an extract, concentrated oil, powder or compound?

 

These aren’t fruit flavors, but I have made pumpkin spice, red hot cinnamon, peppermint, and brown sugar espresso marshmallows with great success. I posted my pumpkin spice recipe in recipegullet here. For the red hot cinnamon, I replace half the sugar in my base recipe with cinnamon imperials that I grind in my coffee grinder, and add about a half teaspoon of grocery store cinnamon extract at the end of beating. For peppermint, I just beat in a good whack - probably close to a teaspoon - of peppermint extract to the base recipe at the end. For brown sugar cinnamon, I substitute brown sugar for white sugar (honestly can’t remember whether I substitute it for half or all of it) and dark corn syrup for light corn syrup, and add about a tablespoon of espresso powder (Medaglia D’Oro is the brand I like best) to both the water/gelatin and the cooked sugar mixture. The brown sugar espresso and pumpkin spice tend to be a bit denser than vanilla or fruit flavors, but the flavor is great. I use fruit juices or purées in all my fruit flavors, though. I think I tried compounds years ago and couldn’t get the flavors intense enough for my liking.

 

edited to add - my base recipe is 16 oz sugar, 4 oz water, 7 oz corn syrup, 1/2 tsp cream of tartar (citric acid for fruit flavors) cooked to 240f, beaten into .75 oz gelatin bloomed in 4 oz. water. Fills a 9 x 13 pan about an inch full.

Edited September 1, 2019 by patris
Added more detail to base recipe (log)

[patris]

I will also add that I once tried adding pulverized freeze dried raspberries to the base recipe during beating to make raspberry, and the flavor was pretty faint. The texture also suffered - they seemed a bit grainy and lacked full fluffiness. That was the only FD fruit experiment I did, though.

[jrshaul]

I made a batch of marshmallows via the following procedure and found them awfully rubbery. I've had some wonderfully ephemeral marshmallows using eggs, but these were a bit on the soggy and rubbery side. Would also appreciate a cooked option for the egg whites - a swiss meringue would work, but I'm reluctant to add sugar.

1. Bloom 3 envelopes Knox gelatin in 1/2c water, add flavoring
2. Cook sugar syrup of 1/2c water, 2 1/2 c sugar, 1/2c corn syrup to 245f

3. Combine sugar syrup with gelatin in stand mixer on low
4. Fold in 2 beaten egg whites.

I also have some peanut flour ("PB2 powdered peanut butter") I would love to use in these and would like to use roasted banana puree if anyone has any ideas.
 

[JeanneCake]

If you liked the flavor, you can try again and reduce the gelatin  (do 1.5 packages or 2). 

 

I've been using the marshmallow recipe from Nightscotsman on RecipeGullet; it's an adaptation of one from Martha Stewart and it doesn't contain egg  whites. You bloom the gelatin in water or fruit puree, then add the hot syrup and beat, adding air and creating volume; then you pour it out into a foil lined pan, sprayed with pan spray.  It sits for a few hours then you dust it with potato starch/confectioners sugar and cut then store airtight.  You can definitely fold in some of the powdered peanuts but the banana puree might be a challenge, since it's relatively thick compared to puree......

 

[jrshaul]

1 hour ago, JeanneCake said:

If you liked the flavor, you can try again and reduce the gelatin  (do 1.5 packages or 2). 

 

I've been using the marshmallow recipe from Nightscotsman on RecipeGullet; it's an adaptation of one from Martha Stewart and it doesn't contain egg  whites. You bloom the gelatin in water or fruit puree, then add the hot syrup and beat, adding air and creating volume; then you pour it out into a foil lined pan, sprayed with pan spray.  It sits for a few hours then you dust it with potato starch/confectioners sugar and cut then store airtight.  You can definitely fold in some of the powdered peanuts but the banana puree might be a challenge, since it's relatively thick compared to puree......

 

I found his recipe. He uses a bit less gelatin and a lower sugar temperature.

Roasted banana puree is pretty close to strawberry puree in texture. Might be worth a shot.

Any thoughts on using cardamom?

[JeanneCake]

I love the idea of cardamom!  I'd put the powder in with the gelatin, only because if you add it toward the end of mixing, it might lump.

[MelissaH]

You might also look for the marshmallow recipe from BraveTart (Stella Parks). It's in her cookbook, but the only place I found it on line is embedded here: https://www.saveur.com/best-white-layer-cake-recipe/

 

In the book, she gives a few variations, including for a marshmallow that she says is specifically good for hot chocolate and not good for toasting on a stick because it's too fragile. None of her marshmallows use egg. (IMHO, you need gelatin or egg but not both. I find I strongly prefer the taste of those without egg.)

[jandreas]

Use egg-white powder (albumin) and the liquid in the puree to reconstitute it.  That will give you the flavor from the puree and the whites will easily whip up.