Bay Area LIFE:Make your own marshmallows
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Make your own marshmallows! It's an easy recipe kids can help make.
Marshmallow Recipe:
- 2.5 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
- half cup cold water
- 1.5 cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- one-forth teaspoon salt
- half cup water
- 2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
- confectioners' sugar (for dusting)
Directions:
1. Combine gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment.
2. Let it stand 30 minutes.
3. Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup of water in a small heavy saucepan; place over low heat and stir until sugar has dissolved.
4. Wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to dissolve sugar crystals.
5. Clip on candy thermometer; raise heat to high.
6. Cook syrup without stirring until it reaches 244 (firm ball stage).
7. Immediately remove pan from heat.
8. With mixer on low speed, slowly and carefully pour syrup into the softened gelatin.
9. Increase speed to high; beat until mixture is very thick and white and has almost tripled in volume, about 15 minutes.
10. Add vanilla; beat to incorporate.
11. Generously dust an 8x12 inch glass baking pan with confectioners' sugar.
12. Pour marshmallow mixture into pan.
13. Dust with confectioners' sugar; let stand overnight uncovered, to dry out.
About Salt & Honey:
Salt & Honey Catering believes every occasion should be a celebration! They are passionate about creating fun, memorable and effortless events. Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, they service all parts of the Greater Bay Area from Napa Valley to Silicon Valley. Salt & Honey Catering specializes in corporate events, parties and weddings, big and small, fully catered with staff and event planning, as well as ready-made Salt & Honey To-Go meals. Their dedicated team believes in sourcing seasonal ingredients, working with professional and service-oriented staff and creating simple, rustic and elegant presentations. They also like to add an element of fun to events with DIY food bars where guests can customize sliders, tacos, drinks, desserts and more.
About Olivia Colt
Olivia Colt is founder of Salt & Honey Catering. Salt & Honey believes in using locally sourced and sustainably raised-and-caught produce, meat and seafood to create meals that are satisfying for the palate and responsible for the environment. The Bay Area catering and events company has created memorable weddings, parties and corporate events for the likes of Facebook, One Kings Lane and Google, Salt & Honey is driven by the bounty of Northern California, finding inspiration in Mexican, French, Italian and Caribbean flavors.
Of Dominican-American heritage, Olivia's cooking career began at her great-grandmother Mami Juana's and grandmother Mami Pia's apron springs, as she watched them and learned to prepare Dominican dishes. Her first real memory of experimenting solo in the kitchen was at age 9, watching Martha Stewart make mayonnaise from scratch on TV. As she explains it, "I took out the blender, separated the egg whites from the yolks, streamed in the olive oil and added a pinch of salt. I was so proud to show my mother what I had created when she got home from work-she loved it. I always attribute that moment of seeing her joy, and the pleasure of sharing something truly delicious, to igniting my passion for cooking and feeding others. I promptly told my parents I wanted to go to culinary school." Instead of cooking school, however, Olivia moved to San Francisco to attend the University of San Francisco and major in Latin American Studies and History. But on the side, she was cooking and experimenting with recipes and always entertaining. After graduation, she focused her career on social work and fundraising, working in development and event planning for several Bay Area nonprofit organizations.
At the age of 27, Olivia experienced back-to-back strokes. Her recovery led to a six-month medical leave and an abundance of free time. She began hosting small tasting dinners in the living room of her tiny apartment, with her mother acting as sous chef and lead server and her father as host and entertainer. Olivia was also hired to do daily lunch at two tech startups in San Francisco. Seeing a viable career as a caterer, she decided to quit her job to pursue her dream of a culinary career. Salt & Honey was born.
Word spread, and in January 2012, Olivia moved the catering business out of her apartment and into her first professional kitchen, hired staff and grew her client list.
That same year, she had a third stroke, which finally led to the diagnosis of a rare blood disorder, Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria. Since then, treatments help manage her chronic illness and she has learned to balance her "new normal" with her growing business. Salt & Honey now has professional chefs, experienced catering managers and a full-time staff of 18 who make their clients' dreams come true.
