Marshmallows (gelatine-free)

INGREDIENTS

100mls cold water
7.5mls china grass powder
250g white sugar
1 tablespoon honey

3 egg whites

To coat: you can use a mixture of cornflour and icing sugar (1:1), or toasted coconut

METHOD

1. Combine the water, china grass powder, sugar, and honey in a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn down to moderate heat, and cook for about 7 minutes, or until soft-ball stage is reached. Remove from heat. Let it cool for a few minutes.

2. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Pour the syrup into the egg whites gradually, while beating on low-moderate speed. You may not get the last bits of syrup out of the pan, it's totally okay :)

3. After you have added the syrup, keep beating on moderate speed until the mixture is thick, slightly glossy and holds its shape. I use a handbeater, and I know it's ready when I lift the handbeater up and the trail formed between the beater and the bowl doesn't break; it simply holds its shape.

4. Spoon into a parchment-lined baking tray that's about 5 cm deep.

5. Leave aside covered with a net overnight, or for about 10 hours.

6. Cut into squares, and dust in cornflour/sugar or toasted coconut.

* The marshmallows are best eaten within 2 days.
* This recipe makes a relatively soft marshmallow. I'm still experimenting with the agar agar (falooda powder) quantity to produce a solid bouncy marshmallow; I'll update as I get new results :)

INFO & TIPS

Parchment is sold as Glad Bake in SA. It's also available from Woolies as Baking Paper.

The recipe was adapted from http://bemiam.com/2013/11/01/homemade-marshmallow-using-agar-agar/

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