Sore throat? Pop in some Marshmallows.

Yello, Here’s a Marshmallow.

Hold your horses. We’ll start from the top (of the marshmallow, yes). 

For years, sap from the sap from the marshmallow plant has been used to treat colds. Yes, we said ‘marshmallow plant’. No, don’t head out to your garden. 

Originally,  a marshmallow was made by extracting sap from the plant and mixing it with nuts and honey. Another pre-modern recipe uses the pith of the marshmallow plant, rather than the sap. The stem was peeled back to reveal the soft and spongy pith, which was boiled in sugar syrup and dried to produce a soft, chewy confection. And this marshmallow, was used to treat colds, coughs and sore throats.

The traditional marshmallow recipe uses powdered marshmallow root, which may be difficult to obtain. Most commercially manufactured marshmallows instead use gelatin in their manufacture 

Now a days, the recipe just calls for sugar, loads of it. 

So what does this have to do with your cold? Nothing. 

Only it feels really good to swallow something that’s sweet and slippery and requires no chewing. So we’ll live with that. Who knows, it could be good for you anyway!