This morning I woke up with an urge to try my hand at making traditional herbal marshmallows. Now, immediately there is an issue, because while there is so much common mallow (Malva Neglecta) in my garden, and what may or may not be a hollyhock (Althea Rosea)but that iNaturalist has identified as common mallow volunteering in my greenhouse, there is no marshmallow around that I have seen. Usually if I want to try something, I want to try it now, today, I don’t feel like having to order marshmallow root and waiting for it finally arrive. But I have seen other people use the seeds of both common mallow and hollyhocks to the same end as marshmallow root.
Off I go to the garden to collect the seeds and while I’m there take some pictures of the “Tick Away Balm” near some catnip because the light was good.
I got all my seed pods and made sure they were deleafed while I had my coffee. They then went into some boiling water inside my instant pot to simmer away while I went about my morning trying to stay off social media and not fall into the doomscrolling trap that eats daylight hours like s’mores.
Once they had simmered for a while and the water was nice and slimy I let it cool off for a bit. I left the little seed pods in there so that they could continue to infuse and maybe the water would get more gooey.
I followed a recipe I found on Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ybeg_KXSP80
It goes pretty quick, so I’ll give you the steps. I did have to add a bit more cream of tartar and sugar than the recipe called for, since the mixture was not forming up, the recipe is written out as provided though.
Natural Marshmallows Ingredients
- Aproximately 1 cup of Mallow seed pods
- 2 cups of water
- 1 egg white
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 1 tbsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup of sugar
Natural Marshmallows Method
- Collect the seed pods and remove the leaves
- soak them in cold water while you bring 2 cups of water to a boil
- simmer the seeds until the liquid has reduced and feels slimy and stringy when touched
- allow the liquid to cool, then strain out the seeds.
- in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat your egg white. Add the cream of tartar
- Slowly add the liquid to the mixer, add the sugar and vanilla
- Beat until peaks form.
- Transfer to a dish lined with parchment paper ( I sprinkled corn starch on the baking paper) smooth out with an offset spatula.
- Allow to rest for 12 hours or until set.
What are the benefits of Natural Marshmallows?
The mucilaginous quality of the plant can help to soothe the digestive system, the respiratory system and even the urinary tract! It can be used on sore throats and for coughs as it coats and soothes irritated tissue. It may be more useful prepared as a decoction than as a confection however.
For me, the benefit is learning how simple they are to make and considering all of the potential different ways that they could be flavoured and the different medicinals that could be included. What if instead of sugar I used honey? or if I used a mint tea to decoct the seed pods? The possibilities feel endless!