Marshmallow experiment: Reviving old marshmallows

Tonight I had my own version of a marshmallow experiment, and it turned out really well …

Bags of marshmallows in our house do a couple of things if they're not eaten in one sitting. The smaller ones get a bit hard and become marsh-not-so-mellow. The larger ones stick to each other and get really gooey.

Marshmallow experiment: Saving nearly-dead old marshmallows

As my wife was scrolling through Ibotta prior to a trip to Walmart, she saw an offer for $0.25 off any brand of cereal. (Check out my review of Ibotta to learn more about this.) Then she remembered that we had a few open bags of marshmallows. She got the Walmart brand of crisp rice serial (because generic!) and we got back home and went to business.

We had three open bags of marshmallows. We had 1 1/2 cups of mini marshmallows, one bag with about four larger marshmallows, and a nearly-full bag of marshmallows that had mostly stuck together.

All three bags of marshmallows had the recipe for crisp rice treats on them, which was great for someone who really needs to follow a recipe. My daughter and I had to do some math to get the number of marshmallows close to what we needed; we needed 5 1/2 cups of mini marshmallows, but 40 regular-sized marshmallows. (Part of the goal was to get rid of some of the bags!)

Crisp rice treats are pretty forgiving

After we got our fingers all sticky from prying the stuck marshmallows apart, things worked just peachy. Not a whole lot of modification needed; the marshmallows melted just fine and it tasted just fine after it cooled. We just paid attention and didn't over-zap the marshmallows and butter in the microwave, and stirred in the cereal right after we took the bowl of goo out of the microwave.

The final product wasn't a work of art, but it really doesn't need to be! Perfectly flat treats are for people with too much time on their hands 🙂

Other tips for saving dead marshmallows

My daughter and I successfully saved the marshmallows and made this (yummy) masterpiece.

Here are some other ways to handle old marshmallows gathered from around the web.

Use a piece of fresh bread to moisten them

Putting a fresh piece of bread in a resealable bag with the marshmallows softens them up again. This also works for keeping them from going stale in the first place. (TheFatDollar.com)

Dunk hard marshmallows in hot water

You can try softening marshmallows that have hardened by holding the closed bag under running hot water or dipping the closed bag into a pan of hot water for a few minutes. (Of course, make sure the bag is sealed well!)

The heat is just enough to soften the marshmallows nicely. (Chris's Interest)

Unstick marshmallows with powdered sugar

Heloise recommends pouring some powdered sugar or cornstarch into the bag, closing it, and shaking it until the marshmallows are well-coated. (My vote would be for powdered sugar instead of cornstarch, because more sugar.)

Most of the marshmallows should separate but some of them might need more convincing; those can be pulled apart more easily. (Hints from Heloise on Chron.com)

How to save other food from the trash

In addition, here are a few more foods that can be revived (check out here for more):

• You can freeze very ripe bananas to use them in recipes. (I don't particularly like green bananas but don't mind ripe ones, so this may not bother you.)
• Moldy cheese can be fixed simply by cutting off the moldy part.
• For bruised apples, I usually just do a bruise-ectomy and get on with life.
• Reinvigorate stale potato chips and stale cereal with a tour in the oven at low heat.
• Soften brown sugar by covering a bowl of it with a damp paper towel, and microwaving it for periods of 10 seconds. (PureWow.com)

Sometimes food is beyond repair, but often there's a way to get some more life out of it. Maybe in even a tastier way than our sweet marshmallow experiment worked out!

What other hacks do you have for getting more mileage out of your food?