Marshmallow Tea: Beyond S’mores
Love tea as your go-to break? Why not invite the much overlooked marshmallow tea to your selection? This teacup wonder has a unique flavor – sweet and woody - and texture, thicker than average teas due to the mucilage in the marshmallow root. Marshmallow root is even considered a remedy for “lung and gut” problems, as marshmallow fans like to say. Here’s what you do: Place one or two teaspoons of marshmallow root in a cup of hot water. Let steep about 10-minutes. Add sweetener or another herbal companion such as peppermint or licorice, and drink while warm. The tea will grow thicker when cooled.
BUY Marshmallow tea and get our free tea kit. Want a copy of Susan’s book “Fun Foods of America”? Susan will gladly sign it and send along a marshmallow sampler, too”
SEE Marshmallow tea recipes here! Stickler for candy? Try one of the original recipes…and good luck!
The Recipes
For marshmallow tea, here’s an easy route: Place one or two teaspoons of marshmallow root in a cup of hot water. Let steep about 10-minutes. Add sweetener and drink while warm. The tea will grow thicker when cooled.
Here’s Another Option – A Bit Harder:
- marshmallow root
- peppermint leaf
- a piece of licorice root, or other botanical companion as desired
- 1 cup warm water
Place the mixture in a covered jar and let sit overnight. Enjoy the drink with honey or other sweetener or as is.
Want to make marshmallow candy? Here are two truly old-time marshmallow recipes from Eleanor Parkinson’s cookbook, The Complete Confectioner, circa 1864. Helpful hint: you may need to cut the quantities to size. Remember early cookbooks were written for domestics in the homes of the well-to-do or for the homemaker herself (aka “Woman of the House”) so she could manage the staff. The quantities might need to be adjusted for today’s smaller size of friends and family.
Marshmallow Lozenges. “Marshmallow roots in powder one pound, or slice the root and make a strong decoction, in which you dissolve the gum, fine sugar four pounds. Mix into a paste. If six drops of laudanum be added, with two ounces of liquorice, the pectoral quality of these lozenges will be improved. Good for obstinate coughs.”
Syrup of Marshmallows — Sirop de Guimauve “Fresh mallow roots eight ounces, water one quart, sugar three pounds. Cleanse the roots, and slice them; make a decoction (See Decoctions), boiling it a quarter of an hour, so as to obtain the mucilage of the root; strain, and finish as wormwood. One ounce of liquorice-root and one ounce of white maidenhair, with a few stoned raisins, may be added.”
