A century ago, confectioners made marshmallows from a froth of sugar, starch and gelatin, in a laborious process that involved lots of primping. Each candy had to “sweat” for several hours to form its delicate skin, and then it was sprinkled with starch. In the 1950s, Alex Doumak — an executive at the Doumak candy company — dreamed up an efficient solution to the problem of the slow marshmallow: he treated the candy goo as an industrial material. Machines forced the marshmallow slurry through tubes, subjected it to blasts of gas at 200 pounds per square inch, extruded it into long tails and then cut it into bite-size chunks. Doumak filled the candy with air, like a tire, trapping nothingness in an architecture of sugar. “Extrusion allowed for the marshmallow we’re used to today — with that springy, fluffy texture,” Sue Watson, manager of the company archives at Kraft Foods, says. Kraft began extruding its own marshmallows in the late 1950s, but its most creative touch might have been the space-age name it gave to the factory process — jet-puffed — as if the marshmallows had exploded out of a rocket-ship engine. As part of a 1959 promotion, children sent in empty Kraft marshmallow bags for a chance to own a 29-foot spaceship equipped with astronaut suits, countdown lights and an “astro projector for space observation.” The modern marshmallow may be mostly air, but it’s a sweet lesson in less is more.
WHAT MAKES A MARSHMALLOW KOSHER?
Yossi Ostreicher produces kosher marshmallows for Manischewitz.
Why do you make marshmallows with a gelatin derived from fish? A regular marshmallow is made with beef gelatin, and with any meat product, you can’t buy the regular brand and stay kosher. So we started using fish gelatin. The marshmallow is a very big item for kids, for the Passover season. If this product weren’t available, my kids wouldn’t even know that you could put a few marshmallows on a stick and toast them.
Why do you make your marshmallows in Israel? All the U.S. companies turned us down. They didn’t want to work with fish gelatin.
What’s new in the world of kosher marshmallows? We have a machine that makes a twisted marshmallow. And we have a lot of ideas for new shapes. We’re working on a Magic Max shape — the mascot of Manischewitz.Continue reading the main story