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These Healthy Marshmallows Will Change Your Life

They might be unhealthy, but marshmallows are fundamental to having the perfect hot chocolate, campfires, and Rice Krispies squares. Yet, diabetics and others who need to limit sugar intake miss out on the simple pleasures that marshmallows bring due to high levels of corn syrup and sugar. This is of course completely unfair. I believe everyone needs to experience the tasty pleasures of roasting a marshmallow over a campfire or adding a few too many marshmallows to your hot chocolate!
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Have you ever heard of a healthy marshmallow? Probably not. The ingredients in your typical marshmallow recipe are corn syrup, sugar, cornstarch, water and gelatin and maybe some more sugar. Marshmallows are loaded with sugar, making us all love and hate them at the same time.

They might be unhealthy, but marshmallows are fundamental to having the perfect hot chocolate, campfires, and Rice Krispies squares. Yet, diabetics and others who need to limit sugar intake miss out on the simple pleasures that marshmallows bring due to high levels of corn syrup and sugar. This is of course completely unfair. I believe everyone needs to experience the tasty pleasures of roasting a marshmallow over a campfire or adding a few too many marshmallows to your hot chocolate!

I started researching solutions and worked with author, Leanne Chan's Marshmallow recipe to create a gluten-free, corn-free, Dairy-free, egg-free and sugar-free Marshmallow recipe. However, in this version of the recipe I did add pure maple syrup and sprinkled organic icing sugar for personal preference. The recipe will still have that fluffy marshmallow texture and taste great if you don't add the icing sugar or maple syrup.

The marshmallow treat and candy that we all know and love was first created by people using the sap found in marshmallow root. But before people learned how to whip up the root's sap to make marshmallows, they used it as a remedy for sore throats, the flu, and other medical purposes.

Marshmallow root is a herb that has been around for centuries. The ancient Egyptians extracted the sap from the marshmallow root and mixed it with honey and nuts. In the early 19th century the French pioneered the innovation of whipping up the marshmallow root's sap and sweetening it, to make a confection similar to modern marshmallows. Other pre-modern people used the stem instead of the sap and boiled it in sugar syrup to produce a soft and chewy confection. In today's world, most marshmallow recipes use gelatin, sugar, and cornstarch to create the fluffy marshmallow instead of using the healthy marshmallow root. Somewhere in history, we stopped using marshmallow root to create marshmallows.

Marshmallow root has many uses before it was used to make candy, ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Indian cultures used it to cure the flu and sore throats. Even today you will see many holistic stores selling marshmallow root to help improve people's health.

  • You can use marshmallow root as a tea. As a tea, it is perfect for colds, flu, and sore throats.
  • For digestion problems, marshmallow root soothes stomach illness, heartburn or the occasional digestive problems. I like mixing it with peppermint tea to give it more flavor.
  • On skin, I have yet to experiment using marshmallow root on my skin, but I have heard through blogs LINK that is great for eczema and soothing sunburn.

I have never made marshmallows before, so the final recipe it looked a little daunting. But once I started mixing everything together I realized that it is actually one of the simplest recipes I have ever made!

Organic Marshmallow Recipe

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs grass-fed gelatin powder
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup maple syrup
  • 2 marshmallow root capsules
  • Organic icing sugar

Instructions

  1. In a mixing bowl dissolve the gelatin in ½ cup water.
  2. Stir the mixture until the gelatin is fully dissolved.
  3. In a small saucepan bring remaining ½ cup water and maple syrup to a boil.
  4. Let the mixture boil at 240 F for 8 minutes while stirring constantly.
  5. Mix boiling water and maple syrup into the gelatin mixture.
  6. Add 2 marshmallow root capsules (discard capsules). Beat at high speed for 10 minuets or until you see soft peaks form.
  7. Add vanilla and any other flavoring your desire.
  8. Beat for another 5 minutes.
  9. Pour the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking dish- around 13 x 9 x 2.
  10. Let the dish stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
  11. You'll see the mixture start to solidify and become fluffy after just 1 hour!
  12. After 24 hours it is time to check on your marshmallows. Take the marshmallows out of the pan and cut into squares.

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