Healthy Marshmallows (Less Sweet More Flavor!)

We’re not sweet tooths. In fact, we’re kind of the opposite. My kids would rather have nothing than a piece of candy any day. However, marshmallows are fun! They are perfect for roasting over a fire. Necessary for making s’mores. Delicious on top of a cup of homemade hot chocolate.

So we decided to experiment to see how little sugar we could put into a homemade marshmallow.

As it turns out, sugar is pretty necessary for the structure of a marshmallow. Otherwise, it’s just water and gelatin. However, we were able to use a whole lot LESS sugar and still end up with a fluffy, foamy marshmallow.

So while healthy marshmallows may be a misnomer, here’s why these marshmallows are worth taking on your next camping trip:

• Gelatin is high in protein and generally thought to be good for your health.
• Honey replaces corn syrup in this recipe, for a more wholesome and natural liquid sweetener.
• This recipe uses only 1 cup of sweeteners versus 2-3 cups found in traditional recipes.
• Infuse your marshmallows with herbs or other flavors!

Flavour infusions

Marshmallows started out as a cough remedy made with marsh mallow root. However, most (all?) commercial marshmallows don’t contain any mallow root. Even if they did, marshmallows aren’t really medicinally useful.

Regardless, it’s easy to infuse flavour into these healthy marshmallows. Here are a few options:

• Replace the vanilla extract with mint, orange or other extracts.
• Use rose water instead of vanilla extract.
• Instead of using a cup of water, use a cup of tea. I recommend Earl Grey, jasmine green tea, or chai. Yum!
• Add the zest from one lemon, orange, or lime.
• Replace the water with 1 cup of clear juice (like apple, blueberry, or pomegranate). Since the juice is sweet, you can reduce the amount of honey to 1/4 cup, but don’t adjust the sugar. It’s structurally important for fluff! (The pink mallows were made with berry juice).