{
    "id": 1070783,
    "title": "How are marshmallows made?",
    "slug": "how-are-marshmallows-made",
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    "url": "https://sweeties.net/wiki/how-are-marshmallows-made/",
    "modified": "2026-09-26T14:36:50+01:00",
    "excerpt": "Marshmallows are sugar syrup whipped with gelatine or egg white until half air, then moulded in starch or extruded and cut. They began as a plant medicine.",
    "content_text": "A marshmallow is a foam: a sugary liquid with gas bubbles spread all through it. It is about 50 per cent air, and the whole art of making one is getting that air in and keeping it there until the sweet sets.\nThe four ingredients\nModern marshmallows are made from just four things:\nSugar, with the types varying from recipe to recipe.Water, to dissolve the sugar.Air, whipped in.A whipping agent, usually a protein. The two most common are albumen, from egg whites, and gelatine: see eggs in sweets and gelatine in sweets explained\nThe protein gathers where the liquid meets each air bubble and holds the bubbles in place, so the gas cannot escape before the marshmallow sets.\nHow they are shaped\nThere are two main ways to shape marshmallows:\nStarch moulding. The whipped mixture is poured into shapes pressed into trays of starch, and left to set. This starch mogul method made marshmallows available for mass consumption by the early 20th century: see what is starch moulding?Extrusion. In 1956 Alex Doumak patented a process that runs the marshmallow mixture through tubes to form long ropes, which are left to cool, then cut into equal pieces and packed. Marshmallow making has been highly automated ever since the early 1950s, when extrusion was first developed.\nMoulded marshmallows are coated, for example with corn starch.\nFrom medicine to sweet\nThe name comes from the marsh mallow plant, Althaea officinalis, a weed of damp marshy ground. Ancient Egyptians are said to have used its root to soothe coughs and sore throats, and the first marshmallows were made by boiling pieces of root pulp with honey until thick.\nIn the early to mid 19th century, French confectioners made pâte de guimauve, a spongy, soft sweet made by whipping dried marshmallow root with sugar, water and egg whites. It took one to two days to make. In the late 19th century, sweet makers switched to the starch mogul, and at the same time began replacing the mallow root with gelatine.\nOur pick and mix includes marshmallow twists and foam bananas: see what are foam sweets made of?",
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