A Marshmallow Treat in Time for Valentine's Day

Remember Ann Landers, the outspoken advice columnist? Not all of her comments were about life and marriage. In 1990 she told her readers that her wish for Valentine’s Day was a box of Schwartz’s marshmallows.

The Schwartz Candies shop couldn’t keep up with the orders.

This little store, hidden away off Voice Road on the Mineola Border in Carle Place, is still making delicious chocolate-dipped marshmallows, about 100,000 a year and all hand-made, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

The Dish: Schwartz’s Marshmallows

What’s Inside: inside is a one-inch square of marshmallow. After cooking, the marshmallow mixture is placed in a shallow pan to set. Then it is cut into one-inch squares. These are dipped in dark chocolate, each hand marked with a symbol to identify the flavoring, such as two diagonal lines for maple and an ‘X’ for strawberry.

How’s It Taste: these are a wonderful blend of textures and taste. The crisp chocolate outer shell and the creamy marshmallow filling work well together, and the dark chocolate offsets the marshmallow’s sweetness. Dark chocolate is the right chocolate for this; it would be too sweet with milk chocolate and you wouldn’t have that firm crunch. The fluffy marshmallow is very different from the gummy cornstarch coated ones you get in plastic bags. The flavors are vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, maple, mint, coffee, banana, pistachio and vanilla with a layer of caramel on the bottom. The caramel adds yet another dimension of flavor and texture and is very popular.