Marshmallows And Sweet Potatoes Go Way Back

Americans sure do like to mix sweet and savory foods, and this is never more apparent than during the traditional . Turkey with cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, savory stuffing with dried fruits, and the classic side dish: sweet potatoes with marshmallows. It just makes you wonder where this brilliant idea came from.

Food historians broadly agree that the first modern mention of the orange spud topped specifically with marshmallows appeared in a 1916 fundraising cookbook called, "At the Sign of the Rolling Pin." Shortly after this, in 1917, the Angelus Marshmallow Company printed a recipe pamphlet that formally paired these two ingredients together once more. As far as the dish becoming a Thanksgiving favorite, this may also come down to the fact that sweet potatoes are a fall crop.



(In fact, there are lots of with them.) And while marshmallows tend to get grouped in with summer treats (think s'mores at summer cookouts), blazing bonfires are very much a staple of the colder months, too. So, it's not surprising really that we'd come to associate these two ingredients with fall and fall celebrations like Thanksgiving.

The idea of putting sweet potatoes and marshmallows together, however, goes back even further than you might think. The history of sweet potatoes and marshmallows Sweet potatoes contain natural sugars that make them noticeably sweeter than white or yellow spuds. However, they've historically been sweetened up even more during cooking.

A 1597 work, titled the "Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes," describes sweet potatoes being roasted with sweetened prunes. A 1675 publication describes a sweet potato pie seasoned with dried fruits and sugar. Meanwhile, in 1796, "American Cookery" by Amelia Simmons (hailed as the first American cookbook) was published and included a recipe for sweet potato pudding.

On top of this, marshmallow actually originates from the mallow plant, which has been used medicinally since the time of the ancient Egyptians. Even when marshmallows began to get closer to the confection that we know today (this took place in 18th century France), they were still consumed as medicine. The mallow plant was traditionally used to soothe a sore throat or swollen sinuses.

As the 20th century approached, American cookbooks regularly featured homemade marshmallow recipes to be used as frosting or dessert fillings — in fact, you can easily . At the same time, printed recipes for candied and glazed sweet potatoes were also becoming more widespread. By the time the aforementioned 1917 pamphlet from the Angelus Marshmallow Company was released, sweet potato dishes were not an anomaly, although it likely helped cement Thanksgiving sweet potato casserole in popular culture.

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