Adventures in shmallow

Some time ago, I read an article in Delicious Magazine about how to make marshmallows a la Bea's of Bloomsbury, using fruit smoothie, and sans egg.

I don't know why, it had never occurred to me before that it was possible to make marshmallows on a domestic scale. It may seem obvious to some, but to me, the distinct absence of a domestic jet puff facility in my teeny tiny kitchen would immediately render the pursuit of home-grown marshmallow futile.

Seemingly, I am labouring under an uneducated misapprehension. You can, in fact, create marshmallow in your very own kitchen, with the aid of a stand mixer (thank you once again, Kitchenaid), gelatine (thank you dead animal bones), a shedload of sugar and a glug of golden syrup (thank you, Tate & Lyle).

Now - one thing you have to understand is that without the aid of the industrial jet puff machine, these are not the 'cumulonimbus' of the sweet world. But they aren't bad either. Rather, they are more... well, in all honesty, having made my very first batch, the nearest thing I can liken it to is...well...delicately fruit-scented neoprene. But don't get me wrong! It's tasty neoprene!

I jest. No, in all seriousness it's actually very, very good. It's more like tempur mattress. KIDDING!

It's not at all chemically, unlike the little clouds of sugary, squidgy air you buy in bulk from the pound shop, and is rather less uniform - it has a light, fruity freshness that you just will not get from a commercial brand. I may, however, be being rather facetious of my efforts in my latex-based description, as the following demonstrates.

I took some into the troops today, and was rather thrilled to watch a look of vague disgust turn to joyous disbelief that flooded their faces on trying a piece.
The first thing they said was 'Wow!'.
The second thing they said was 'Did you make that? That's amazing!'.
The third thing they said was 'I didn't think it was possible to make at home! What's the recipe?'.

So, for fellow Marketing buddies and marshmallow connoisseurs, here it is:

120ml fruit juice/smoothie (in this case passionfruit)
2 sachets of Dr Oetker powdered gelatine (approx 30g)
440g caster sugar
160g golden syrup/corn syrup
Vegetable oil to grease tin
Cornflour for coating

Utensils: suitable tin approx 20cm x 20cm, clingfilm, brush, pizza cutter, sugar thermometer, saucepan.

1. Place juice in bowl of stand mixer. Sprinkle gelatine over. Leave to sponge.
2. Boil sugar and syrup together til it reaches between 130 and 140 Celsius. Be careful not to scorch it, and although it takes a while to get there, when it goes, it goes quick!
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a minute.
4. Start the stand mixer going at a medium speed and start running syrup down the side of the bowl. If you want terrifying needles of sugar in your mix, let it get on the wire whisk. If not, keep it to the side of the bowl, as below.

 

Once it's all in, kick the speed up a touch. The mixture will increase in volume and go white.

5. Line the tin with clingfilm and grease the clingfilm incredibly well with your trusty pastry brush. Incredibly well. Literally slathered. This mix will stick to any known substance, even Teflon. Probably not Teflon actually, but you get my point.
6. Pour in to tin and leave to set for 2 hours.

7. When you come to turn it out, coat everything with Cornflour. With a cornfloured hand, hold the marshmallow down and pull the clingfilm from the surface, using you floured hand to ease it away when needed.
8. Cornflour your pizza cutter and chop the mattress of marshmallow into little fairy pillows of sugary lusciousness.

9. Toss them gently in plenty of cornflour, and leave it uncovered overnight to dry out the surface so as they don't stick together.
10. Take to friends and relatives and watch them fall in love!