by Holladay Allen
Native Foods Cafe
Happy Toasted Marshmallow Day! How are you going to celebrate? Perhaps by turning on your gas range and fire-roasting some vegan marshmallows. "What?!" you exclaim in astonishment.... "Marshmallows aren't vegan!?" Sad but true... most commercial marshmallows are not vegan.
According to the ol' Wiki-master: Marshmallow is a confection that, in its modern form, typically consists of sugar, corn syrup, water, gelatin that has been softened in hot water, dextrose, vanilla flavorings, and sometimes coloring, whipped to a spongy consistency. Some marshmallow recipes call for eggs. This confection is the modern version of a medicinal confection made from Althaea officinalis, the marshmallow plant.[1]
But wait just a second before you get all up in arms and do something you'll regret... there are some very, very, wonderfully fantastic vegan marshmallow alternatives out there... just waiting for you to roast them and make them into rice krispy treats and spread their fluffffffff onto peanut butter and cookies.... or whatever else you like to do with marshmallows.
So let's hear it for our faves:
Dandies from Chicago Vegan Foods: Delicious and the perfect size for roasting as the outside gets nice and crispy while the inside gets all gooey. Plus the people that work here are like some of the coolest ever. Did you read the interview we did with them?
Sweet and Sara Marshmallows: Large and fluffy and they come in a variety of flavors, which is rad. And they even make pre-packaged s'mores for y'all. The only downside is they are a bit large for roasting. So I cut them in half.... and all is good.
Ricemellow Marshmallow Creme: Delicious marshmallow goo that you can spoon directly into your mouth, or spread between your toes... I mean on toast. You can't really roast this stuff, at least I have never tried... but you can add it to all sorts of fun things!
PS. Vegan Essentials sells all of these online for easy ordering in your pj's.
And there are lots of recipes out there on the internerd for making your own vegan marshmallows, so get to it. I would be happy to test out your finished product.
Native Foods Cafe, vegan, vegan food, vegan restaurant, toasted marshmallow day, vegan marshmallow
I have noticed that the marshmallows in my local Mexican stores are not made with gelatin, plus they are the size of small bricks, which are ideal for toasting - if they make it that far.
Posted by: Pauldaish | 08/30/2012 at 03:54 PM
That is awesome. Is there a certain brand? Where do you live?
Posted by: Holladay- Native Foods Cafe | 09/02/2012 at 04:13 PM