Marshmallow fluff turns 100 this year — sort of. Just about everyone in Massachusetts grew up loving this glossy, sticky substance, which was invented in our state. The humble fluffernutter is our semi-official state sandwich.
Mimi Graney, who organizes the annual “What the Fluff” festival in Somerville, shares her enthusiasm for what she learned while researching fluff’s history in her new book “fluff: The Sticky Sweet Story of an American Icon.”
As Graney explains, the starting date the Durkee-Mower company uses for its signature (and in fact only) product is a bit arbitrary.
Marshmallow crème or cream — a combination of sugar, egg whites, corn syrup, and vanilla — had been popular for at least a couple of decades when Canadian immigrant Archibald Query started selling his version of the concoction door to door in Somerville in the 1910s.
Increasing federal regulations and World War I sugar shortages caused Query to go to work at a candy factory. There, he eventually met two veterans returning from the war, Fred Mower and Allen Durkee.
Anxious to make a name for themselves, Mower and Durkee purchased Query’s recipe and started selling their marshmallow fluff in 1920. Later, trademark issues led the pair to try to identify its year of origin, and they chose 1917 as an educated guess about when Query first made the product.
Even if fluff isn’t precisely 100 years old this year, Graney makes an excellent case for celebrating it. She acknowledges fluff’s popularity as a nostalgia item and a food that tastes darn good.
She also argues that Durkee and Mower created an innovative, adaptable, and above all, honest business model that has stood the test of time. A descendant of Allen Durkee still runs the company, and fluff continues to sell extremely well, particularly here in New England.
Graney’s description of that business is chatty but informative. Durkee-Mower pioneered in radio advertising in the 1920s. In its prime, the company’s programming featured musicians known as the Flufferettes. I’d love to have sung as
a Flufferette.
Durkee-Mower cleverly promoted its product with recipes: the “never fail fudge” even I, a food writer, make on occasion when I’m in a hurry; a version of Rice Krispie® treats that save time by using fluff instead of melting marshmallows; the fluffernutter; and many more.
Above all, Durkee-Mower made one product efficiently and well.
“fluff” is full of vintage photographs and advertisements, along with myriad fun facts. I had never considered the considerable impact of the invention of the egg beater on the home cook until I read Graney’s history.
Inspired by the book, I decided to incorporate a little more fluff into my kitchen. Happily, Durkee-Mower has for years offered fluff inspiration in a small volume known as “The Yummy Book” (now available online at: bit.ly/2p3Twls.
Perhaps predictably, this trove of treats includes a number of recipes I personally wouldn’t touch, particularly in the salad category. Nevertheless, it does offer several intriguing ideas — such as using fluff as the base for the topping in meringue pies, making sorbet with fluff, and creating fondant with fluff.
I decided to try making a peanut-butter variant on the never fail fudge — sort of a confectionery version of the fluffernutter. I also adapted the rice-cereal treats for an adult palate by adding a bit of espresso powder and drizzling white chocolate over the top.
I thought the coffee treats were an original idea — until I saw that similar recipes are all over the internet. Alas, this world allows very few original recipes.
Both adults and children in my family eagerly consumed the products of my two snappy recipes, which I offer below. I hope readers will make them, or something else fluffy, to celebrate this sweet anniversary.
Fluffy Peanut-Butter Fudge
Ingredients:
2½ cups sugar
¼ cup (1/2 stick) sweet butter
1 5-ounce can evaporated milk
1 7½-ounce jar marshmallow fluff
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 generous cup peanut butter, preferably crunchy (it will come out of the measuring cup better if you spray the cup with canola oil before measuring, but do your best)
Instructions:
Grease an 8-inch square baking pan. In a 4-quart saucepan, combine the sugar, butter, evaporated milk, Fluff and salt. Stir over low heat until blended.
Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring from time to time. Boil, stirring constantly for 5 minutes or until the fudge reaches the soft-ball stage (234 degrees).
Remove the mixture from the heat and blend in the vanilla and the peanut butter. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and cool it before slicing. Makes about 16 to 25 very sweet pieces (perhaps even more), depending on how big you cut them.
Fluffy Crispy Coffee Bars
Ingredients:
3 to 5 ounces good-quality white chocolate, in chip form or chopped
¼ cup (½ stick) sweet butter
1 7½-ounce jar marshmallow fluff
2 generous tablespoons espresso powder (I use Williams-Sonoma’s brand)
6 cups crisped rice cereal
Instructions:
Line a 9-by-13-inch pan with plastic wrap, and spray the sides and bottom of the lined pan with canola oil spray.
Place the chocolate pieces in the top half of a double boiler to melt.
While the chocolate is melting, melt the butter in a 4-quart saucepan over low heat. When the butter has melted add the fluff and continue to stir. When the fluff has almost melted stir in the espresso powder. Continue to stir over low heat until all is melted and blended.
Remove the pan from the heat, and stir in the cereal. Using a spoon sprayed with canola-oil spray, spoon the mixture into the prepared pan, and smooth it out.
Drizzle the melted chocolate on top of the cereal mixture. Let the pan cool until the chocolate has hardened; then cut the confection into bars.
Makes about 30 bars. (The yield depends on how big you want to cut them — I prefer small pieces.)
Tinky Weisblat is the author of “The Pudding Hollow Cookbook” and “Pulling Taffy.” Visit her website, www.TinkyCooks.com.