Marshmallows

Marshmallow candy dates back to ancient Egypt when it was a honey-based candy flavoured and thickened with the sap of the root of the Marshmallow plant (althea officinalis). Today's marshmallows are a mixture of corn syrup or sugar, gelatine, gum Arabic and flavouring.

Commercial marshmallows are a late 19th century innovation made possible by Alex Doumak's patented extrusion process of 1948. Nowadays, marshmallows can thus be made by piping the fluffy mixture through long tubes and cutting its tubular shape into equal pieces.

Marshmallows can also be made sugar-free or sugar-reduced using polyols and fibres.