Traditional Mallow Marshmallows Recipe
By Nicola Lando
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30 minutes prep time
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30 minutes cook time
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Intermediate
Unbeknown to many marshmallows take their name from the mallow plant which was traditionally used to produce them. The pith and sap of the root were cooked in syrup and then dried to produce a sticky sweet. The French developed a recipe that incorporates beaten egg whites giving marshmallows their characteristic fluffy, chewy texture.
This take on the marshmallow brings together both traditional and modern methods – instead of using the root of the mallow plant we are using its fragrant, stunning blue flowers whipped into beaten egg whites and cooked with sugar syrup. Delicately perfumed, coloured a natural pastel green from the mallow flower; they make an elegant gift stacked up in a ‘Le Parfait’ glass jar.
For the syrup - prepare the night before Serves: 10
- 60g caster sugar
- 30g water
- 5g mallow flowers (1 packet)
For the marshmallows
- 75g water
- 350g caster sugar
- 35g liquid glucose
- 8 gelatine leaves
- 2 egg whites
- 3 tablespoons of icing sugar
- 3 tablespoons of corn flour
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 deep baking tray, or a number of ring moulds
Special equipment
Method
- The day before making the marshmallows prepare the mallow syrup. Gently heat 60g caster sugar with 30g water and two-thirds of a packet of mallow petals. Simmer for a few minutes. Leave to cool and refrigerate overnight.
- Oil a deep baking tray, or the base of a baking tray and a number of ring moulds.
- Mix together the icing sugar and corn flour. Sift over the baking tray to coat the bottom.
- Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water.
- Heat the water, caster sugar and liquid glucose in a pan. Using a thermometer bring the mixture to 130°C.
- Meanwhile beat the egg whites on top speed in a mixer until they form firm peaks.
- When the sugar mixture reaches 130°C, squeeze the gelatin leaves to remove as much water as possible. Add the gelatine and mallow syrup (including the mallow petals) to sugar syrup mixture, and stir.
- Continue beating the egg whites, and slowly pour in the hot syrup.
- Turn down the speed on the mixer and continue beating until the mixture has cooled enough to be handled (around 5 minutes.)
- Pour into the pre-prepared baking tray - or moulds - and refrigerate.
- Once set, cut up the marshmallow and roll in the icing sugar and corn flour mixture.
- Decorate with the remaining mallow flowers.
About the author
Nicola is co-founder and CEO at Sous Chef. She has worked in food for over ten years.
Nicola first explored cooking as a career when training at Leiths, before spending the next decade in Finance. However... after a stage as a chef at a London Michelin-starred restaurant, Nicola saw the incredible ingredients available only to chefs. And wanted access to them herself. So Sous Chef was born.
Today, Nicola is ingredients buyer and a recipe writer at Sous Chef. She frequently travels internationally to food fairs, and to meet producers. Her cookbook library is vast, and her knowledge of the storecupboard is unrivalled. She tastes thousands of ingredients every year, to select only the best to stock at Sous Chef.
Nicola shares her knowledge of ingredients and writes recipes to showcase those products. Learning from Sous Chef's suppliers and her travels, Nicola writes many of the recipes on the Sous Chef website. Nicola's recipes are big on flavour, where the ingredients truly shine (although that's from someone who cooks for hours each day - so they're rarely tray-bakes!).
