Marshmallow Sweets My grandmother knew the marvelous Romanian gypsy technique of chewing marshmallow leaves and uniting with saliva for a truly healing poultice. She also made marshmallow sweets with sugar, root, gum, and a touch of egg white. While she usually made it up into big batches, here is my small batch reconstruction of the recipe. Of particular importance is the quality of the roots make sure they aren't moldy or too woody. Marshmallow gives off almost twice its own weight of mucilaginous gel when placed in water.
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4 tablespoons marshmallow roots
28 tablespoons refined sugar
20 tablespoons gum tragacanth (or gum arabic)
Water of orange flowers (for aroma or instead of plain water)
2 cups water
1 2 egg whites, well beaten
Make up a tea of marshmallow roots by simmering in a pint of water for twenty to thirty minutes. Add additional water if it simmers down. Strain out the roots. Heat the gum and marshmallow decoction (water) in a double boiler until they are dissolved together. Strain with pressure. Stir in the sugar as quickly as possible. When dissolved, add the wellbeaten egg white(s), stirring constantly, but take off the fire and continue to stir. Lay out on a flat surface. Let cool, and cut into smaller pieces.
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