We’ve been commissioned by the Fragrance Foundation to create 3 special marshmallow flavors for the annual FiFi Awards, which is an Academy Awards of sorts, for the fragrance industry (I know what you’re thinking - are there really that many new fragrances introduced every year that an annual award ceremony is necessary? Apparently, the answer is yes.) The ironic thing about the FiFis is that when I worked in the beauty industry in a former life 10 years ago, I designed the invitations for the Awards. Funny how some things seem to come back around.

It’s been feeling like the old days (as in 3 months ago…3 long months) when Mark started experimenting with marshmallow flavors. It’s interesting that we settled on classics like chocolate and caramel for our products because we tried a whole bevy of flavors during our test trials, most of which worked, but more in a “hmmm, interesting…” and not in a “I want to eat these one by one right out of the bag” kind of way. Having settled on Cardamom, Lemongrass and Grapefruit, Mark set to work today. Flavors are a bit tricky with marshmallows - while they may taste as you expect them to right after they are made, they can change as we soon found out a few months ago after a pomegranate marshmallow test. A few days later, the marshmallow ended up tasting a lot like a Flintstones vitamin. Unexpectedly, in this experimental batch, the cardamom marshmallow came out the best. The flavor of the spice really came through and it’s an interesting experience to bite into a marshmallow and taste cardamom. Texture-wise, Mark really came upon a great discovery when he began played around with technique - we’ve been keeping dated packages around of all our stuff and even a month later, the marshmallows are still quite soft and fluffy.

I had a hard time falling asleep a couple of nights ago after a long day of cooking and watching the kids. My thoughts eventually drifted to marshmallows and how I’ve not been very happy with my first test batches. The texture turned a bit chewy after a few days and the flavors seemed to fade. Then, out of nowhere, I had an idea that might address these problems and I was actually tempted to get out of bed and try a batch (but no, the sound of the mixer at midnight would surely wake the kids!). I did make a batch first thing when I got up that morning and I am pretty thrilled with the results so far - light and fluffy in texture and subtle, smooth flavors, even after being stored for a week (and counting). I’m not going to divulge my new technique as some things need to be kept secrets, but I will say that I used typical marshmallow ingredients and combined them in a different way to produce the improved product. This particular batch is caramel, which is something special in itself - think of an untoasted marshmallow infused with a toasted marshmallow flavor.

It’s unlikely that anyone will ever bite into a just-made marshmallow, unless you make them yourself. We’ve been storing bags of marshmallows in our kitchen cabinet to see how they fare over time. So far, not terribly well. Flavors change or fade after a few days, consistencies change depending on the added flavor ingredients, and most of the bags of marshmallows are getting too firm, not airy and fluffy as a marshmallow should be. Back to the drawing board…

Marshmallows. Who really thinks about them? I haven’t thought about marshmallows at all so I’m not sure why they popped into our heads, but we thought that they’d be an interesting product to experiment with. Mark made some passionfruit marshmallows a few months ago for a work thing and they were my first experience with home made mashmallows. If anyone has ever had the pleasure of tasting one that’s home made, you’ll know that they are nothing like the Kraft store-bought kind. These are fresh, soft and not so “powdery-chalky” - you know, that coating that makes a marshmallow un-sticky on the outside.

The basic marshmallow is fairly easy to make so he was able to whip up a bunch of flavors: marbled chocolate, coffee, grapefruit with candied fruit pieces, and mint/chocolate. Some were more successful than others, but we’re packing these away in airtight plastic to see how fresh they last.