Marshmallow creme

Marshmallow creme(also calledmarshmallow fluff,marshmallow stuff,marshmallow spread,marshmallow paste, or simplyfluff) is amarshmallowconfectioneryspreadsimilar in flavor, but not texture, to regular solid marshmallow. One brand of marshmallow creme isMarshmallow Fluff, which is used to make thefluffernutter sandwich, a New England classiccomfort foodwhich debuted in 1918 in Massachusetts, just a year after marshmallow creme was invented.
Many late-19th-century "marshmallow paste" recipes produced solid foods. The earliest mention of marshmallow creme in an American cookbook is fromFannie Farmer's Boston School Cook Book, printed in 1896. However, the author does not give a recipe for marshmallow cream in this book, instead giving a recipe for marshmallow paste in the cake filling section. In 1902,Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Bookby Sarah Tyson Rorer describes her recipe for "marshmallow filling".
In 1910, ice cream company Limpert Brothers inVineland,New Jerseycreated a product of the same name, intended as a dessert topping. The company is sometimes credited as the inventor of Marshmallow Fluff.
Around the beginning of the 20th century,Somerville, Massachusetts, resident and inventor of the productArchibald Querystarted selling his version door-to-door. He soon afterward sold the recipe to two candy makers inSwampscott, Massachusetts, H. Allen Durkee and Fred Mower, for $500.The product first hit market shelves in cans as Toot Sweet Marshmallow Fluff in 1917. The first two words were dropped soon after the packaging changed to a glass jar in the 1940s. Today, the Durkee-Mower company is one of only three companies inNorth Americato produce marshmallow creme, the other products beingKraftJet-Puffed Marshmallow CremeandSoloMarshmallow Creme. Fluff's ingredients includecorn syrup,sugar syrup,vanilla flavor, andegg whites.
Fluff continues to be a regional tradition in theNortheastern United States. Since at least 2006, the city of Somerville has celebrated Query's original creation of Fluff with an annual festival inUnion Squaretitled What the Fluff?.Typical activities at the festival have included Fluff-themed science fairs, a marshmallow launching robot fromSomerville High School's FIRST Robotics team with their s'morebot, gallery shows, cooking contests, and carnival games. In 2011, actressSusan Olsen, most famous for portraying Cindy Brady on theBrady Bunch, attended the festival, where she sold her Fluff-inspired art.
One popular use for marshmallow creme is in the "fluffernutter", a Fluff and peanut butter sandwich. In 2006, State RepresentativeKathi-Anne Reinsteinplanned to file a bill that would make the fluffernutter the official sandwich of Massachusetts.
Marshmallow creme is also a traditional confection in Arabic cuisine, where it is commonly referred to as soapwort meringue (natef).The original recipe is based on soapwort (roots ofSaponaria officinalis)or roots of themarshmallow plant, but modern commercial varieties are nearly identical to marshmallow creme manufactured in North America. It was mentioned in a tenth-century Arabic cookbook,Kitab al-Ṭabīḫ(The Book of Dishes) byIbn Sayyar al-Warraq.
According to a 2006Boston Globearticle,MassachusettsState SenatorJarrett Barriosproposed a restriction on the number of weekly servings of fluffernutter sandwiches in the form of an amendment to a bill that would limitjunk foodin schools. Attention on this issue was widespread, with news outlets as far as California reporting on the controversy.The proposal was later dropped.