Since August 10 is S’mores Day and August 30 is National
Toasted Marshmallow Day, we’re providing a quick marshmallow tip today.
Have you had issues with chocolate-covered marshmallows
cracking? We’ve got a quick solution for you: boil your corn syrup for the
marshmallow to get rid of the yeast. Here’s how it works, according to our
expert panel:
Most 42DE corn syrup is contaminated in a small way with
yeast bacteria. It doesn’t affect most
products because the yeast is killed when the syrup is cooked above a
boil. The problem comes when you are
using it in marshmallow. - the syrup is
added to the bob* after it is removed from the fire and never gets warm enough
to kill the bacteria. To fix this, pre-weight
the corn syrup for the marshmallow into a copper kettle and bring it to a very
low boil. Don’t allow it to come to a
rolling boil because that would remove too much moisture. Just as it begins to boil it should be
removed from the fire. Do this early in
the day and allow it to cool to room temperature before it is added to cooked
portion of the marshmallow. A fellow
candy maker did this and never had a cracked Easter egg again.
*What’s a “bob?” The
bob is the sugar slurry that is cooked prior to adding the other ingredients. Bobs for cooked creams and fudges are pretty
much the same - the flavor or texture comes from the added ingredients (i.e.
chocolate into chocolate creams, strawberries into strawberry creams,
etc.). Bobs are the basic beginnings for
most cooked candies.
This tip was shared during an expert panel at an RCI regional event. Retail
Confectioners International has great events just around the corner to help you
stay connected! Visit retailconfectioners.org/events
for information on our 2013 Fall Regional in Buffalo, New York and 2014 Winter
Regional in Barbados this January.
