Subject: marshmallow

From: [email-masked] (CHARLES HERSEY)
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 95 08:34:00 -0500

KL_|Are there any recipes for making marshmallows from real marshmallow.

Hi Katherine,

It seems to me that Mallow is a wild growing plant.  In late spring 
they give off these large white flowers, sometimes pink.  A short time 
later they develope what are called <<mini-mallows>>.

If the weather doesn't knock them off, these can become regular size 
marshmallows.  Of course, wild marshmallows aren't as good as the 
commercial ones.  Just kiddin'.ÿ

The" fact " is that marshmallow is a misnomer. 

The real name is <<Musk Mallow>>. It's from the Malva family 
<<Malvacae>> in Latin.

The real name is actually <<Mallow>>. The Musk is for the odor of the 
wild Mallow. Malva is a name given to a domesticated Mallow plant, that 
does not have the odor of it's ancient wild cousin.

Folks who call Mallow, by the name marshmallow, are not misleading 
people like you. They are enchanting you.

Charles

 * 1st 1.11 *

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From: [email-masked] (ChrisPru)
Date: 16 Jan 1995 13:04:20 -0500

I seem to have seen one at one time, but I haven't been able to find it. 
It involved boiling the roots of the Mallow plant, which contain mucilage,
to get a sticky mass that was then blended with sugar and vanilla.  If I
find the recipe, I'll post it here.

Chris

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From: [email-masked] (Dale Woika)
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 05:40:44 GMT

In article <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (CHARLES HERSEY) writes:
>From: [email-masked] (CHARLES HERSEY)
>Subject: marshmallow
>Date: Fri, 13 Jan 95 08:34:00 -0500

> * 1st 1.11 * 

OK, OK, I'm getting tired of this.

The Marsh Mallow, Althaea officinalis, is a familiar plant around brackish 
marshes & along the bays of the eastern USA seaboard.  It is not 
particularly abundant, so use discretion when harvesting it.  The plant 
grows in clumps, & the roots are these big carrot-like objects, which are 
easy to dig out of sandy soils.  The roots are mucaligous (semi-slimy).  
Gather a few of these and wash them carefully.  Remove the outer layer of 
the roots & cut the inner core into bite-sized sections.  Drop these pieces 
into a boiling very heavy sugar syrup & cook until the syrup gets very 
thick, but stop before the sugar carmelizes.  Spoon the pieces onto a 
prepared cookie sheet to cool.

We tried this two times.  Both times the final product was interesting, 
sweet, chewy, but not exceptionally good.  We found, however, the roots can 
be parboiled to reduce the slimyness & then added to other veggies like a 
stir-fry.  It was better this way.

FYI, the Musk Mallow, Malva moschata, the Common Mallow (cheeses) Malva 
neglecta, & the High Mallow, Malva sylvestris, are common all over the U.
S. & CN.  The young seed pods are pretty good to eat when young, but it 
takes a lot of them to make any kind of a meal.  Only the Marsh Mallow has 
the rootstock which is big enough to use as a vegge.

Dale