One of my readers suggested I try freeze-drying marshmallows, and since our Border Collie puppy, Hero, has been denying me sleep for the last few days, I was glad to try something easy.
We had two one-pound bags of large marshmallows that were meant for Smores, but nobody has used them in months, so it worked out:
If I’d had to do this over again, I would’ve either freeze-dried more marshmallows or freeze-dried smaller marshmallows because I didn’t make good use of tray space this time:
The freeze-drying process was complete after only 11.5 hours, far less time than anything I’d freeze-dried thus far. What I found most interested was how the marshmallows developed small creases on their surface:
It was obvious as soon as I’d removed the marshmallows that they were done because they sounded like hollow rocks as I moved the trays to the kitchen. And, when I cut one open, it clearly had a void:
Of course I ate one, and it tasted good. I’d say I liked it better than the freeze-dried Skittles or M&Ms for sure.
Because the marshmallows were so bulky, I didn’t want to waste several good Mylar bags to store something that wasn’t very healthy (though I did store some Skittles and M&Ms in Mylar), so I started with a large mason jar:
But I was only able to fit one of five trays, so I switched to one-gallon Ziploc bags. I didn’t bother weigh the final product as it was bedtime when the process finished. I also didn’t bother to calculate a cost since the marshmallows weren’t purchased recently, though I can say that I spent about $1.58 on electricity given previous estimates of $3.31 per 24 hours runtime during summer rates.
If I ever freeze-dry marshmallows again, I’ll definitely use the smaller ones, though the larger marshmallows make for interesting snacks, too. It will be interesting to see what others think of them. Maybe they’ll like them as much as I did.
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