Since October, I think I have either purchased or been gifted over 8 new cooking/baking/homesteading books. Most of which were written by some of my favorite bloggers such as Emily, Shauna, Ashley, Marisa and Alana. I have spent hours thumbing through each one, marking pages for dishes or treats I must try. Home-made marshmallows are something I have made now, a handful of times from the raspberry variety at my bridal shower, to the vanilla specked minis I gave my husband’s young cousins alongside a home-made hot cocoa mix this Christmas. I knew once I cracked open Shauna’s book, Marshmallow Madness I would be a marshmallow maker for life. These concord grape marshmallows were one of the first that caught my eye.

I have shared some of these sweet, puffy little treats with family, friends and coworkers and it seems as though the response is almost exactly the same each time. #1- “You can make marshmallows at home? How do you do that?!” #2- “These are so fluffy! They are nothing like the ones at the store.” I couldn’t agree more with #2, and #1 still makes me chuckle every time. Marshmallows are one of the simplest treats you can make at home that you are used to buying from the store.

My favorite thing about these concord grape marshmallows is their light, airy texture.There are not many varieties of mass-produced flavored mallows out there-yet, and even the ones you can find always have a slightly funny or dare I say, fake taste to them. As with any store-bought, manufactured products-I am sure everyone can somehow relate, or agree that the “grape” flavor in grape soda or grape candy is nothing close to the flavor of biting into a fresh picked concord grape. These are different.

The recipe in Shauna’s book calls for grape juice concentrate. After making this batch of grape jelly this fall from the grapes I picked at the farm, I had a few quarts and pints of leftover juice that I canned and stored away for a rainy day. I remembered those jars of juice and used that instead of the store-bought stuff. I simply poured the juice into a small saucepan and boiled it until it reduced by half. There is something so rewarding about sharing grape marshmallows that you not only made at home, but also picked, juiced and canned the grapes that made them taste so fresh and so, well, “grapey”.

Concord Grape Marshmallows

Recipe by: Shauna Sever, Marshmallow Madness

Ingredients:

• 4 1/2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin
• 1/2 cup unsweetened grape juice concentrate
• 1/4 cup cold water
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup, divided
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup classic coating, for dusting*

Procedure:

• Whisk together the gelatin, first water and the grape concentrate, let soften for 10 minutes.
• Stir together the sugar, 1/4 cup of the corn syrup, water and salt in a medium saucepan.
•  Bring the syrup to a boil and bring to 250 degrees.
• Pour the remaining corn syrup on the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
•  Microwave the gelatin until melted, about 30 seconds.
•  Pour gelatin mixture into the corn syrup in the mixer and set speed to medium.
• When the syrup reaches 250 degrees gently pour the hot syrup into the mixer.
• Beat for 5 minutes at medium, and then on the highest setting until the mixture is completely cool.
•  The marshmallow can now be set in a sprayed pan, candy or chocolate molds, or any other vessel to make a fun shape. Mallows
•  You can pipe the mixture right from the mixer before it begins to set using a piping bag and tip.
• Coat your mallows with the classic coating and let cure, 4-8 hours.
• Once set, cut or un-mold mallows and roll in more classic coating.

* Classic Coating= equal parts corn starch and powdered sugar.