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Marshmallow Nougat Taffy and Aerated Candy

Marshmallow, Nougat, Taffy and Aerated Candy covers the confections of the Candy Making hub that owe their texture to air: marshmallow, divinity, hard and soft nougat (including nougat de Montélimar, torrone and turrón), saltwater taffy and frappé. Air gets in three ways: whipping a foam (marshmallow, divinity, nougat), pulling (taffy, pulled sugar), or chemical leavening (honeycomb, which is on Caramel Toffee Brittle Fudge and Fondant).

Marshmallow

Gelatin marshmallow (the modern standard)

• 25 g gelatin (about 3½ U.S. envelopes, roughly 225 Bloom), bloomed in 120 g cold water.
• 400 g sugar, 160 g corn syrup (or invert sugar), 120 g water, a pinch of salt.
• Vanilla or other flavour.
• Dusting: equal parts cornstarch and icing sugar.

1. Bloom the gelatin in the mixer bowl.
2. Cook the sugar, corn syrup and water to 115–118 °C (240–245 °F).
3. With the mixer running on low, pour the hot syrup down the side of the bowl onto the gelatin.
4. Whip on high for 8–12 minutes until thick, white, roughly tripled in volume, and just warm (about 40 °C). Add flavour near the end.
5. Spread into a dusted, lined pan. Dust the top.
6. Leave uncovered for 6–12 hours to set and dry. Cut with an oiled knife or scissors and toss in dusting powder.

• The syrup temperature sets the texture: lower gives a softer, more spreadable mallow; higher gives a firmer one that is better for toasting.
• Vegan marshmallow replaces the gelatin with aquafaba (chickpea liquid) whipped to a foam plus agar or carrageenan for the set.
• Egg-white marshmallow (French guimauve): Italian meringue (hot syrup into whipped egg whites) stabilized with gelatin. Lighter and more delicate.
• Historical note: the original pâte de guimauve used the mucilage of marsh-mallow root (Althaea officinalis) as the gelling and foaming agent, which is where the name comes from. Gelatin replaced it in the 19th century.
• Marshmallow creme (fluff): a softer, spoonable foam of egg whites and syrup, with no gelatin set.

Divinity

A Southern U.S. candy: egg whites whipped stiff, with a sugar–corn syrup syrup cooked to hard ball, 121–127 °C (250–260 °F) streamed in, then beaten until it loses its gloss and holds peaks. Pecans are folded in and it is spooned into mounds. Divinity is famously humidity-sensitive. On humid days it may never set, because the sugar foam picks up moisture. Cook a couple of degrees higher on damp days, or wait for a dry one. This is established, not folklore.

Nougat

Hard (white) nougat: nougat de Montélimar, torrone

Nougat is a meringue foam (egg whites) stabilized with cooked honey and sugar syrup, packed with toasted nuts and pressed between sheets of edible wafer (rice) paper.

• 2 egg whites (about 60 g)
• 250 g honey (lavender honey is traditional for Montélimar)
• 300 g sugar, 100 g glucose syrup, 80 g water
• 400–500 g toasted almonds (and pistachios), kept warm
• Edible wafer paper

1. Start whipping the egg whites to soft peaks.
2. Heat the honey to about 120–125 °C and stream it into the whites while whipping.
3. Meanwhile cook the sugar, glucose and water to about 145–150 °C (hard crack for chewy-firm nougat; lower, about 135–140 °C, for softer). Stream it into the honey meringue with the mixer running.
4. Whip for several more minutes until the mass is thick and stiff and cooling. Some confectioners dry it further over a bain-marie.
5. Fold in the warm nuts (cold nuts set the nougat on contact).
6. Spread it between wafer paper in a frame, press it flat, and leave overnight. Cut with a serrated knife.

• Nougat de Montélimar (France) is defined by a minimum nut content of 30% almonds, or 28% almonds plus 2% pistachios, and honey making up at least 25% of the sweetening ingredients. Its protected geographical indication (IGP/PGI) has been in the process of formal registration (INAO).
• Torrone (Italy; Cremona's is famous) is the same family, often with hazelnuts.

Turrón (Spain)

Two protected styles, both under PGI regulation:

• Turrón de Alicante (hard): whole toasted almonds bound in a honey–sugar–egg-white nougat, cut into bars. The top grade, Suprema, has a high regulated almond minimum.
• Turrón de Jijona (soft): the same ingredients, but the almonds are ground into the mass and worked to a soft, oily, fudge-like paste.

Soft nougat and frappé

• Frappé: a whipped foam of egg-white (or milk or soy protein) and syrup, made ahead and folded into a cooked syrup to aerate it.
• Soft (candy-bar) nougat: syrup cooked lower (about 120–130 °C) and lightened with frappé. Fat and sometimes powdered milk are added. This is the chewy layer in many chocolate bars.
• Persian gaz: a nougat made with egg white and, traditionally, the manna-like sap angebin (from Astragalus species), with pistachios and rosewater. See Regional Candies of the World.

Taffy

Saltwater taffy

• 400 g sugar, 200 g corn syrup, 150 g water, 30 g butter, 5 g salt, 1 tsp cornstarch (optional, for body), flavour oil and colour.

1. Cook the sugar, corn syrup, water and salt to about 121–127 °C (250–260 °F) (hard ball). Use the low end for soft taffy and the high end, up to soft crack at about 132 °C, for a firmer chew.
2. Off the heat, stir in the butter, flavour and colour. Pour onto a buttered marble slab or a buttered baking sheet.
3. As it cools, fold the edges in. When it can be handled, butter your hands (or wear buttered gloves) and pull: stretch it to arm's length, fold it back, twist, and repeat for 10–15 minutes.
4. It turns opaque, lighter in colour and satiny and gets harder to pull. Stop when it holds ridges.
5. Roll it into ropes, cut it with buttered scissors, and wrap each piece in wax paper at once (it flows and sticks if left).

• Why pull: pulling folds in fine air bubbles and aligns the mass. That is what makes taffy light and soft-chewy rather than a dense caramel. Commercial taffy is pulled on a mechanical "taffy puller" (rotating arms).
• The "salt water" in the name is a marketing story from Atlantic City in the 1880s. It contains salt and water, but no seawater.

Other pulled chews

• Molasses taffy and pulled mints (see Hard Candy Lollipops Lozenges and Mints).
• Korean yeot and Japanese mizuame chews: malt-converted rice syrups, cooked down and pulled until white. See Regional Candies of the World.

Why aerated candies fail

• Foam collapses: syrup too cool when added (the foam isn't set), grease in the bowl (it kills egg-white foams), or under-whipping.
• Weeping or sticky: undercooked syrup or humid storage. Dust it and store it airtight.
• Grainy nougat or divinity: sucrose crystallized. Use glucose syrup and wash down the pot walls.
• Rubbery marshmallow: too much gelatin, or the syrup cooked too high.
• Sticky taffy: undercooked, or not pulled enough.

See also

• Candy Making
• Sugar Stages and the Science of Candy
• Caramel Toffee Brittle Fudge and Fondant
• Gummies and Jellies Gelatin Pectin and Agar
• Regional Candies of the World
• Edible Waxes Hive Foods and Aromatic Resins
• Infused Confections Even Dosing in Gummies Chocolate and Hard Candy

Sources

• Greweling, P. P. Chocolates and Confections, 2nd ed. CIA/Wiley, 2013. Marshmallow, nougat, frappé, divinity, taffy.
• Hartel, R. W., von Elbe, J. H. and Hofberger, R. Confectionery Science and Technology. Springer, 2018. Aerated confections, foam stability.
• INAO (Institut national de l'origine et de la qualité). "IGP Nougat de Montélimar." INAO
• Atlas Obscura. "The history of Montélimar nougat" (the 30% / 28%+2% nut and 25% honey rule).
• Consejo Regulador IGP Jijona y Turrón de Alicante. Product specifications for the two turrón PGIs.
• McGee, H. On Food and Cooking, rev. ed., 2004. Egg foams, gelatin, marshmallow history.
• Exploratorium, "The Science of Candy". Soft-crack and saltwater taffy. Exploratorium

Coverage

Gelatin marshmallow (weighed formula and method), vegan and egg-white versions, marsh-mallow root history and marshmallow creme; divinity and its real humidity sensitivity; hard nougat (honey and sugar syrups into meringue with warm nuts) with the Montélimar composition rule, torrone, turrón de Alicante and Jijona, soft nougat and frappé, Persian gaz; saltwater taffy (temperatures, pulling and why, the name story), other pulled chews; failure causes for aerated candies.

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