OK, so probably the wrong Forum, but this is the "most traveled" one. Here's the question: I'm making marshmallows. Vegan ones. Using no egg white and using agar. I get the mixture whipped until it's white but it doesn't increased in volume. At all.
I swear, I can do the most complicated things. But not the simplest things.
If they are vegan I assume they don't have gelatine in them? I've never seen a marshmallow recipe w/o the geletine. My reciepe has water, sugar, corn syrup, gelatine and flavoring, no eggs. It takes about 15min to get fluffy. Just made a batch last weekend as a matter of fact.
Well then the only difference would be gelatin--all the other ingredients listed were what I used. I am familiar enough with the agar that I don't think that is the problem. I whipped the sugar syrup (after bringing it to 238 degrees.) It never got what I'd call fluffy. This was the second batch. Last night's batch went down the drain.
So is fluffy like whipped cream fluffy? Like whipped bc fluffy?
Doing some more reading, and maybe . . . just maybe I've figured it out. My recipe said to take the sugar syrup to 238. Other recipes say to take the sugar syrup to 340. BIG difference. As soon as I get off the tradmill, I'll try again.
Do you marshmallow makers think this is the problem?
I have a national contract for doing museum work. I'm making historic candies from original recipes. They keep adding to their line with more and more historic recipes. I haven't done it yet, but an upcoming addition is to replicate the original marshmallows. I don't create the recipes. I'm given bits and pieces of information with the list of ingredients, no amounts. I have to research it and make it work in the exact way it was done in that time period.
Tomorrow, when I submit my latest bill, I'll ask her for the recipe. I'm pretty sure it would be classified as vegan.
I just looked up one of my research sites. It is vegan, but it involves using marsh mallow root. My guess is that it will be very different from the marshmallow as we know it today. The second historic resurgence if the marsh mallow added the egg whites. So both of my recipes will be no good.
I make marshmallows every other day at my current job, though they are not vegan....egg whites sugar, cornsyrup, water, gelatin and vanilla, the one difference I see is that I heat the sugar, half the water and a little bit of cornsyrup up to 260, then in my recipe you pour it into the egg whites while they are whipping, it is a big gooey mess for the first 5 min*also add gelatin then, then all of a sudden it comes together, then I just pipe them into ice cube trays and they are beautiful....but I think the temp could be part of the problem,the one time I did not get it to the 260 it was a total throwout...
I think many people who have tried to make vegan marshmallows have failed. They've used agar. I think the people who were successful used marshmallow root.
This is the longest thread I've ever read about marshmallows, but maybe you'll find all kinds of tips here. The only thing I can think of is to make the non-vegan version first to see the consistency and fluffiness and then try to adapt that to the vegan ones using agar.
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/40358-homemade-marshmallow-recipes-tips/page__hl__marshmallow
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/126303-strawberry-marshmallows/page__p__1694935#entry1694935
I think people have tried them with Kojel, but later heard that although it's kosher, it's not entirely vegan.
I know Sweet & Sara was able to develop a recipe for them.
http://www.sweetandsara.com/about.php
Here's Sweet & Sara's list of ingredients.
http://www.veganstore.com/product/556/vegan-marshmallows-and-other-sweets
340 degrees (assuming Fahrenheit here) is past the hard crack stage in candy making and is pretty much when sugar starts to caramelize. I'm not sure if it will even be soft when it cools down if you cook it this high.
From what I know, the protein in both egg whites and gelatin are whipping agents in marshmallow recipes. Once you remove that, you have to replace it with other things that will help it whip. You seem to be on the right track with agar, but it lacks protein. I've seen recipes that use soy isolate powder for the protein plus xanthan gum and guar gum for binding. See this recipe from seriouseats:
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/12/vegan-marshmallows-recipe.html
I've noticed the Sweet and Sara's marshmallow ingredients also list soy. So that might be the key.
Good luck!
Another fail last night. I took the sugar syrup to 260.
I'm gong to try regular, non-vegan marshmallows and see if I can do that.
Geez! You want a Sacher Torte? A Mocha Daquoise? Oh yeah, I can knock those out in a flash. But marshmallows? ::hangs head::
More like meringue (sp?) fluffy. They are a bit more dense than store bought mellows but super good. I ususally add a bit more vanilla than it asks for if using the clear vanilla but then I like a flavor punch. I also dip them in chocolate - 'cuz they aren't bad enough for you.
Heat water, CS and sugar in a pot to 250. Meanwhile, bloom gelatine in your mixing bowl. Slowly pour in hot sugar syrup into bowl while stirring on low. Once incorporated, increase speed to high and let 'er rip for 15 min. My bowl never ggets completely cool. Attempt to get it all out of the bowl and into greased and powdered pan (fail misserably and just accept that you are only going to get MOST of it out), wait 24 hrs(ish), cut with wet pizza cutter (works best for me) and enjoy.
Leah_S, since Shauna Sever has a book on marshmallows out, a few of her recipes are on the Internet now. This is a recent one. Maybe you can get ideas for your vegan marshmallow.
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Vegan-Vanilla-Marshmallows-394849
I found these links, some might have already been mentioned:
http://www.angelfood.co.nz/webapps/site/91387/238899/shopping/shopping-cart.html?add2cart=570393
http://www.chicagosoydairy.com/dandies_vegan_marshmallows/
(this one has been mentioned) http://sweetandsara.com/products.php
more vmm info
http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/page/2/?s=marshmallow
Could homemade marshmallow be piped inside a cake dam? I have used marshmallow fluff as a filling, but it seeped out and the corner of the cake collapsed. I have never had a single other filling seep in my entire cake career.
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