Homemade Marshmallows

Every Thursday for Classical Conversations the kids have to prepare a 3 minute oral presentation on a specified topic for their fellow home school classmates.
This week Delaney's topic was "What do you think is the most wonderful invention ever made?

After talking about different topics--houses, suckers, Popsicles--she and I decided upon Marshmallows!

After learning a bit about this confection we decided to try our hand at making some for ourselves.

(Preparing the pan with powdered sugar and corn starch for the confection to be poured into.)

The afternoon was quite--everyone else was asleep, napping due to colds going around-- so Delaney and I had some peaceful time to ourselves to experiment.

Combining corn syrup and sugar with water.

Cooking it till it reaches a boil--then boil for a minute longer

Add the sugary syrup to 3 Tbsp of softened unflavored gelatin and mix for ten minutes.

This is what you get after 10 minutes....

....perfect marshmallow creme!

We then poured it into the prepared pan and let it sit for 2-3 hours. Once it was set it plopped out nicely. We dusted it with more cornstarch and powdered sugar.

Then cut it into squares....dust each one individually....then let them sit a few hours more. ( We found this really wasn't necessary.)

Taa-daa! Homemade Marshmallows! Mmmmm, they are quite tasty and have the same texture as the store bought ones.

Here's her speech

"What do hot chocolate and s'mores have in common? Why marshmallows, of course.

Marshmallows are a candy that have been around since the mid 1800s. They are called marshmallows because part of the early recipe called for sap form the root of the marshmallow plant. The marshmallow plant it a pink flower herb in the mallow family.

The marshmallows we buy at stores now use gelatin in place of the root sap, My mom and I tried a recipe and they are great! Try one....I think marshmallows are a sweet invention."