Spongy, round sweets of foamed sugar with gelatine. Most traditionally, marshmallows were made with an extract from the mucilaginous root of the marshmallow plant (Althaea officinalis) instead of gelatine, while other versions have used gum arabic or egg white to maintain the foam.
Commercial Marshmallow sweets are made using Alexander Doumak's 1948 patented extrusion process.