MARSH MALLOW

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Originally, marsh mallow was made from the root of this herb by boiling slices in sugar water to create a soothing sweet paste, but today’s marsh mallows have only the sugar in common with the original recipe. Mix the marsh mallow root and sugar together. Stir the gum tragacanth into 2 tbsp (30 ml) of the orange flower water. Add the liquid to the powders and stir. Use just enough orange flower water to bind the mixture together to form little balls. Roll into shape and leave these to dry. If you cannot get the tragacanth, try soaking the powdered marsh mallow in the orange flower water overnight to draw out the mucilage from the marsh mallow, then adding sugar and rolling into small balls or, if it is not sticky enough, making into flat cakes, cut into squares and leave to dry. This root contains a sweet starchy substance called insulin. In the middle Ages, apothecaries sold the crystallized root in flat, pink, sugary cakes (colored with cochineal) which were sucked to relieve asthma and indigestion and to sweeten the breath.