Make The Fluffiest Homemade Marshmallows With One Simple Addition

Fluffiness is key when making perfect homemade marshmallows; however, if you are skipping this one ingredient, you will never achieve the pillowy heights that every marshmallow deserves. As it turns out, commercial marshmallows, which are made of sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, and water and have a shelf life of 6 to 8 months, do not contain egg whites. This simple ingredient, which gives French meringue its volume and airy peaks, is also key to fluffy marshmallows.  

Adding egg whites to your homemade marshmallows is going to produce a fluffy, lighter-than-air texture that surpasses anything you can buy at your typical grocery store. The good news is, it really doesn't add any additional time to the process. While you bring your sugar and water to a boil and add the corn syrup, bloom your gelatin as you would normally do, and mix it into your sugary syrupy liquid. Next, whip your egg whites like you would if you were making meringue and add this white fluff to the sugary gelatin mixture. Pro tip: Separate the yolk and the whites when they are cold. Lastly, you want to beat it all together until you can actually see the air bubbles trapped. 

Adding whipped egg whites to your homemade marshmallows will give them a silky, melt-in-your-mouth consistency. They are perfect for desserts, hot cocoa, or roasting and using for classic s'mores. That said, marshmallows made with egg whites have a much shorter longevity. You can store them for about 3 weeks in an airtight container at a temperature between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. But colder is better. If you keep them in the fridge, they will last up to a month. However, you want to skip the freezer. The taste and texture tend to change once they are frozen.

This addition will work whether you are making a peppermint, cinnamon, vanilla, lemon, or coconut-flavored marshmallow. Just make certain you add the flavor once the mixture has cooled a bit. If you add it to the sugar mixture as it boils, it can make the flavor taste a little funky. You can add a little salt to balance the flavor if you are worried about it being overly sweet.