Why is Hot Chocolate serve with Marshmallows?!
Why is Hot Chocolate serve with Marshmallows?
Why when I order hot chocolate at a coffee shop or at a restaurant they always come with Marshmallows?
Is nice but I want to know why, is it because it meant to be or is like a custom?
By the way~ I'm in Melbourne - Australia..........does USA does the same too?
Answers:
Marshmallows make the hot chocolate creamier, sweeter and tastey. The hot chocolate melts the mallows a lil bit so it results to gooey goodness!
here in the united states we have always just has our hot cocoa with marshmellows although I don't always have them in mine. it's just a matter of preference. just like tea with lemon or no lemon coffee with cream or no cream.
Maybe to make the hot cocoa sweeter and thicker. It also fun to pick the melting marshmallows. yumm...
It's just a good taste /texture combination.
Oh, yes, It is very wide-spread and well loved. In fact, I think I'll have some now. It's been a custom for so long I don't think any one alive can remember it starting.
Ooh, the kind we have is called "Dark Chocolate Sensation." Yumm...
Originally the drink was made with cocoa, and not the processed chocolate powder used today. I believe the idea of using marshmallows is a sugar alternative. It's definitely an American thing, which got passed on everywhere else thru coffee places like Starbucks, and travelling entrepreneurs. Maybe it could even be a confectionery's marketing strategy to pair marshmallows and a cuppa hot chocolate.
"The original hot cocoa recipe was a mixture of ground cocoa beans, water, wine, and peppers. It didn't take long for Spaniards to begin heating the mixture and sweetening it with sugar. After being introduced in England, milk was added to the after dinner treat.
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Americans often use the terms "hot chocolate" and "hot cocoa" interchangeably, while others make a difference between "hot cocoa" and "hot chocolate". Hot cocoa is made from a powdered mix of cocoa, sugar and thickeners. Hot chocolate is made directly from bar chocolate, which already contains cocoa, sugar and cocoa butter. Hot chocolate can be made with dark, semisweet or bitter-sweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces and stirred into milk with the addition of sugar. American hot cocoa powder often includes powdered milk or other dairy ingredients so it can make a drink without using milk. A modern American concept is the addition of marshmallows to hot chocolate. Some packaged hot cocoa mixes come with small dry marshmallows." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/hot_chocola...
The other possible origin of putting marshmallows in hot cocoa might come from the original marshmallow candy which contained medicinal properties from the marsh mallow flower root, which soothes sore throats. Maybe the original marshmallow didn't taste good, so mothers would put them into hot cocoa drinks for kids to taste ^_~
"Real marsh mallow is a plant with a long root that actually does grow in a marsh. Nineteenth century doctors extracted juice from the marsh mallow plant's roots and cooked it with egg whites and sugar, then whipped the mixture into a foamy meringue that later hardened, creating a medicinal candy used to soothe children's sore throats. Eventually, advanced manufacturing processes and improved texturing agents eliminated the need for the gooey root juice altogether. Unfortunately, that eliminated the confection's healing properties as a cough suppressant, immune system booster and wound healer."http://www.daymented.com/marshmallow.htm...