Homemade Marshmallows

I wanted to make marshmallows more as a chemistry experiment than anything. I made up my own recipe using candy-making concepts and different marshmallow recipes I found online. The difference between my recipe and most is that I don't use corn syrup (because I didn't have any on hand at the moment) Corn syrup is used to prevent crystallization in candy by adding glucose to prevent large sucrose crystals from forming. Two or more different sugar molecules have a harder time joining together to form crystals. Make sense? Instead I use sweetened lime juice as an acid to cause the sucrose to invert into fructose and glucose which also prevents the molecules from joining together to form crystals.

Enough of the chemistry lesson! The fun part is just seeing how it gets all poofy and white.

Mimsy's Marshmallows

4 packages of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 tsp sweetened lime juice
3/4 cup water

1 tsp vanilla (or other flavoring)
Food coloring (optional)
Confectioner's Sugar

Prepare an 9 x 13" cake pan by greasing it and dusting it generously with confectioner's sugar. Combine the first three ingredients in a large mixing bowl and set aside. Combine second three ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook until the temperature reaches 240ºF (use a candy thermometer). Add flavorings and food coloring if you wish. Add the cooked sugar mixture to the gelatin mixture in the bowl. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Beat on high until white and fluffy and about triple in volume.

Pour into prepared pan (this is the hard part). Work quickly and use confectioner's sugar on your hands to carefully spread it evenly. Dust the top with more confectioner's sugar. Cool and then cut with an oiled knife into squares or shapes. Toss marshmallows with more confectioner's sugar to coat. Keep in an airtight container.