This week, Tidbits has “s’more” than enough facts about one of our favorite treats – the marshmallow!
• Did you know that marshmallows grow on trees? Well, sort of, anyway. There really is a marshmallow plant found in Europe, Asia, and North Africa. It’s a beautiful flowering plant that’s covered in white flowers, but it’s the roots and sap that provide the real benefit. For centuries, dating back to Ancient Egypt and Greece, people used these parts of the marshmallow plant for its therapeutic properties — to heal wounds, to soothe throat inflammation, and relieve coughs. The sap and root pulp were boiled and mixed with honey. The healing concoction was strictly for use by royalty.
• The Egyptians moved the marshmallow from merely medicinal to a confection, combining it with grains and nuts and baking into cakes.
• It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that the marshmallow started to become the form we know today. French confectioners took the plant’s roots and sap and whipped them together with sugar, water, and egg whites, resulting in a soft, puffy treat. Each marshmallow had to be hand-formed, so in the latter part of the century, they created cornstarch molds that allowed for mass-production.
• Yet, the process was still tedious and took a lot of time, since the sap had to be extracted from the plant took over a day to dry. Manufacturers replaced it with the more-convenient gelatin, which had the added bonus of helping marshmallows to better hold their shape. Corn syrup, starch, powdered sugar, and water were added to the gelatin, resulting in a fluffy texture.
• Marshmallows came to America in the early 1900s, sold as penny candy. Germany immigrants, the Rueckheim brothers, opened Angelus Marshmallows in 1907, adding to the popular confection they had already introduced in 1893, known as Cracker Jack.
• In 1927, the Girl Scouts’ Handbook and “Scouting Magazine” published a recipe they called “Some More,” maybe because the girls were always asking for more of the treat consisting of two roasted marshmallows and a chocolate bar sandwiched between two graham crackers. The name was later abbreviated to “s’mores.”
• 1948 brought a new process that transformed the production. It involved an extrusion machine, in which the mixture was piped through tubes, then cut into equal pieces. It also pumped more air into marshmallows, making them even puffier!
• In 1940, a Pennsylvania-based candy company named Just Born introduced a new candy they called Mike and Ike. In 1950, a cinnamon-flavored candy known as Hot Tamales was added to Just Born’s lineup. They presented another famous sweet treat in 1953, a chick-shaped marshmallow they dubbed Peeps. Originally, a batch of Peeps took about 27 hours to create, all made by hand. Today’s equipment enables the company to crank out the chicks and bunnies in about six minutes. Each Peep contains about 28 calories.
• Kellogg’s starting printing the recipe for their “marshmallow squares,” as they were called, on the Rice Krispies packages in 1941. The recipe was a joint project between the Kellogg test kitchens and a fundraiser for the Camp Fire Girls, producing a treat the girls could sell door-to-door. The recipe has remained unchanged ever since. General Mills added marshmallows to oat cereal in 1964, calling them Lucky Charms, and using Lucky the Leprechaun as their sales mascot.
• Marshmallows, originally a plant-based treat, are now made primarily from animal-based gelatin, although vegan marshmallows are available. Americans consume about 90 million lbs. (40,823,313 kg) of marshmallows every year.