PART 1:

Noted Ep. 180: MARSHMALLOW (ft. Fresh03)

(Ranked from first to worst)

LA Marshmallow: Not a lot to it. When you try to push % higher to get more flavour has a bit of a chemically off note. ID10-T thought it was like moth balls. Fresh thought it tasted like a chemically almond. Maybe benzaldehyde? Which can cause a chemically cherry almond if not used correctly. But not a lot of flavour. Some brighter vanilla. Very sweet. Fairly thick and smooth. The texture is pretty good, it's both creamy and fluffy. But overall not very tasty.

7.42

RF Marshmallow SC: Has a funky toast like note. Not like a toasted MM, but more like a MM covered in debris from the toaster. Also a little bit chemically that makes it taste like an artificial toast flavour. More of that toast off note than MM. Although there is some MM in there. Thin, not thick and full like other MM flavours. Not very much vanilla.

9.41

CAP Whipped Marshmallow (SL): Underwhelming. A really soft, dull flavour. A plain vanilla. You'd expect a MM to be pretty sweet, but just has a light sweetness. Also has a slight tangy-ness above 1%. Like a cheesy or spoiled milk type sourness. Fresh thinks it's a pretty solid edition to a lot of custards and creams. You just have to use it low. Keep it under 1%. If you keep it low its mostly a whipped cream with a little bit of MM and some good mouthfeel. Not good to vape as a SF. But if you wanted to make something like a sweeter sundae you can add some to give a little extra sweetness and really good mouth feel. A bit of an anomaly as CAP SL flavours tend to be really weak in concentration so have to use them at higher %.

12.00

Many MM flavours (in particular TFA MM, WF Marshmallow Gooey) are really good for adding sweetness, volume and mouthfeel to ice creams. Ice cream and MM go really, really well together.

MB S'mores Marshmallow Brownie: At 7% ID10-T thought was mostly covered by a mountain of sweetness and chocolate. Tastes more like a moist, rich chocolate cake than a brownie. Not gooey or chewy enough to be a brownie and as a more cake-y texture. The MM tastes more like a MM frosting as there's no toasted-ness and no graham cracker. But has a spoiled dairy off note. Which, although mild, lingers and is a bit nauseating. The 7% MB recommended is probably too high? May need to steep longer? Would probably be pretty good at a lower % and about a weeks steep as at the heart of it is a nice, rich chocolate cake with MM frosting. Tastes like it contains sucralose. Fairly intense sugar lips. Probably won't need to add additional sweetener. Fresh would recommend 3-4% max. Below 4% it does have a distinctive sourness, but it's mild and relatively easy to cover with other bakeries etc. Has pretty decent chocolate cake and MM notes. Not s'mores though as still not toasted and still no graham. It's not a one shot, best used with other flavours. ID10-T tested at 7%, steeped for 5-6 days. Use at 3-4% max.

14.30

FLV Marshmallow Treat: Not a great flavour. Which is odd as FLV Marshmallow is so good. Supposed to be a rice crispy treat. But has nothing that would suggest that. Has some fruitiness. Not bright enough to be a Trix cereal MM treat. Like a swampy, stewed berry type fruitiness. It's malty, sticky sweet. Something that's vaguely MM-ish in there. If there is supposed to be cereal it tastes more like cardboard. Fresh and ID10-T thought it's one of those flavours they'll probably never use.

17.44

FW Marshmallow: Has a slight black liquorice off note. Really authentic to old fashioned MM that were made with mallow root. It's really sweet, really thick. Could work to add sweetness and thick fluffiness to a liquorice recipe. Cheeba used FA MM in a liquorice recipe to add the gelatin like body and sweetness. Plus the vanilla lifted the whole thing. It would also go really well in a root beer float.

19.34

CAP Marshmallow: The old CAP MM was amazing. But they reformulated it around 3 years ago. Tastes like a MM that has been made with a viciously artificial, overly bright vanilla that's slightly bitter and medicinal up front. It's strange because CAP can do vanilla very well. CAP Vanilla Cupcake, Vanilla Whipped Cream, Vanilla Custard all have great vanilla notes. Has sugary sweet depth, thickness, the gooey sweet inside of a MM. But the vanilla is so bad that it just ruins it.

23.19

TFA Marshmallow DX: Lightly plastic-y. Not a whole lot of flavour. But does have some decent mouth feel. A good sweetness. Nice, bright vanilla. But not much else to it. So if you have it it's useable to add sweetness, mouth feel and a bit of vanilla to recipes. But if you have other MM flavours than they would probably be better options.

24.31

WF S'mores Cupcake: A really good flavour, but the MM isn't the best part. ID10-T doesn't like the chocolate note. He finds it a bit rubbery. But he's only tried it at 3% and 4%, may be fine at a lower %. A lot of other people don't mind that chocolate note. There's no graham cracker. Just chocolate cake and toasted MM. The cake part is really good. Rich cake-y body. The MM isn't bad, but a bit faint.
ID10-T tested at 3% and 4%. Fresh likes to use it around 1.5-2%.

26.09

FW S'more: Just has the graham and the toasted elements of a s'more. So tastes like a toasted graham cracker. Has a light touch of chocolate. Chocolate isn't gross. But maybe because there isn't enough of it to taste gross. Lacking the MM.

28.16

FW Toasted Marshmallow: Not bad, but not the greatest either. It's quite dry. Seems like it could dry a mix out. Doesn't taste like a toasted MM. More like a gritty sweetness. Not much vanilla. Has a little bit of a roasted nuttiness that's almost savoury. Fresh thought if you use it low it's not a bad toasted MM (but not as good as TFA Toasted MM). Does a good job at adding toasty note to things. Pretty good mouth feel. Good for adding sweetness, like most MM flavours.

29.15

Emily's pro tip - If you want a toasted MM note in a mix, instead of using TFA Toasted MM use a regular MM with FLV Smoked Butterscotch.

DEL Toasted Marshmallow: Delightfully mediocre. Not as good as TFA Toasted MM. Has a pretty good toasted note. But not quite as creamy or fluffy as you'd want. Not dry. But thin, lacking some body. Wouldn't make a good toasted MM on it's own as it's so thin. But would work to give a nice toasted top note to another MM.

31.45

OOO Marshmallow Cereal: (Also discussed on cereal episode) Only ranked so low because it's being ranked based on the MM note and there isn't a lot of MM in it. If it was a cereal episode it would be ranked much higher. Really tastes like Lucky Charms. Has the right bland, lightly sweetened, oat-y cereal. Accurate crispy, dehydrated marshmallow. Not a lot of MM. Mostly cereal. But that's like how Lucky Charms are. Cereal is not that frosted. To make it tastier probably want to add some meringue. Pretty yummy. Needs milk or something as it's dry. Maybe could add a load of gooey MM and some butter for a Lucky Charms rice crispy treat? Or some malted milk? Have to use at 8-9% for it to be full flavoured.

33.24

TFA Lucky Leprechaun: Would be ranked lower than OOO MM Cereal as a cereal, but ranked higher as it has a lot more MM. The cereal is almost non existent. Mostly a dry, crispy MM. Nicely sweet. Has some good body and nice thickness. But a little weird. Artificial, kind tastes of like the food colouring in the MMs. Which would add to authenticity - ID10-T has used FW Birthday Cake to a MM cereal recipe to try to get some of that fake, artificial flavour. But there's too much of it in TFA LL. It can be toned down in a mix though. Might work really well mixed with OOO MM Cereal?

34.59

TFA Marshmallow: A great and very useful ingredient. But over used. Just not a great MM. Really good for softening and smoothing whilst sweetening a mix at the same time. The vanilla note is pretty good. 'Softening and smoothing' is another way of saying muting, so that's not always a positive. Depends on what application you're using it for. Loaded with EM. Kind of tastes like MM goop. But just as a SF it almost mutes itself. Not very assertive. Sits in the background of a mix, which can be a good thing if you're using it for that addition of volume, sweetness and a little vanilla. Has a little buttery-ness, which is odd for a MM. But for that reason can be pretty tasty as an ingredient. Goes really well in ice creams or custards to give a sweet, fluffy volume. Also works in bakeries. Woudn't use it so much in candy type mixes where that buttery note may be a bit weird. Unless you can use it low enough that that is covered. Would be fine in caramel, butterscotch etc. Works fine with fruits if used low enough. ID10-T has used it to smooth out the sharpness in cinnamon and pineapple. A flavour that ends up being a beginner DIY-er's best friend. Fresh has recommended new mixers to replace their sweeteners with TFA MM as the muting effect it has covers a lot of your mistakes when you're first starting out. Rounds lot of the rough edges off. A very friendly flavour to play around with. An essential tool that everybody should have. If you want to cut down the amount of sweetener you're using than it can help with that. Or if you have a mix that's a little too sharp, particularly bakeries, a little can smooth that out. If you keep it under 2% you won't get a lot of MM flavour, but it will smooth any rough/sharp edges.

36.59

PART 2:

Noted Ep. 180: MARSHMALLOW (ft. Fresh03)

TFA Toasted Marshmallow: Similar to TFA MM, but less versatile. Not a particularly great toasted MM, but a really great ingredient. Great mouthfeel. More slightly caramelised rather than toasted. Like TFA MM it contains a lot of EM. If not used properly it'll very easily mute a mix. Very warm, when added to a mix it tastes like there's something warm in there. Really good in custards. Magical when mixed with bourbon. Good in butterscotch and caramel recipes for a bit of extra sweetness and mouthfeel. Or could use FLV Smoked Butterscotch. Or both. A friendly flavour for beginners as long as you keep it below 1%. Can go over 1%, just wouldn't recommend a new mixer do that.

41.13

Coop's Kiwi Bourbon by Coop34 (posted on ATF by ID10-T) Just 4% FA Kiwi, 2% TFA Toasted Marshmallow and 2% TFA Kentucky Bourbon. It shouldn't work, but it's so good.

43.56

SSA Milky Caramel Fudge is really, really good

FLV S'more: A little less than half the overall flavour is MM. Has some above average chocolate. It's a little too dark for a s'more. Tastes like it gets a little darker on the finish. So left with an impression of dark chocolate. The MM tastes slightly toasted. It's sweet and fluffy. No graham cracker, besides some gritty and dry mouthfeel. But no actual graham flavour. Overall it's a good flavour. Would be a really good addition to a hot chocolate recipe. Could add some dairy and little bit of a lighter chocolate. Could also add a bit of peppermint. Maybe if you combine FLV S'more with FW S'more you'd get a complete s'more. FW has the toasty-ness and the graham. FLV has the chocolate and the MM. Use up to 1.5% max.

45.23

WF Marshmallow Gooey: Accurate to the name. Very gooey and sticky. Like the gooey inside of a MM. Delicious. No off notes. What CAP Whipped MM should have tasted like. Can use in anything you need mouth feel. Really great flavour. Useful to add sweetness and volume to ice cream or frosting. Really sweet, but not in a EM or sucralose way. Has a kind of powdery sweetness like confectioners sugar.

47.32

CNV (Chemnovatic) Marshmallow: Pretty accurate to a really good, plain MM out of a bag. Not overly malty. Some nice gooey mouthfeel. Sweet. Pretty similar to WF MM Gooey. Fresh got a little more malty-ness from the CNV. But other than that they're not too different. Could probably use them interchangeably. When CNV nails something they really nail it.

49.26

PUR Marshmallow: More of an authentic MM, rather than being a whipped MM or MM fluff etc. A bit more realistic than CNV MM. Like a fresher, soft MM out of a bag. Or maybe like a homemade MM. Not overly malty. A really good MM.

50.42

FA Marshmallow: A lot of people's favourite MM. Slightly too dark and malty. Not especially thick, although not thin. Other than that it is pretty accurate to a MM. ID10-T thought it's a little dry, kind of powdery. Especially on the finish. Doesn't blend into mixes as well as TFA. It stands out enough that the MM flavour remains separate. While Cheeba thought it was pretty creamy and has a smooth mouthfeel.

52.12

FLV Marshmallow: Super authentic. Really sells that powdery outside of a MM. Because it's so authentic it can be a little harder to mix with. Mostly that powdery outside and you're often looking for the more creamy, fluffy innards. If you wanted to nitpick the vanilla is a little bright and slightly sharp, even after steeping for a week. Authentic enough that you could use it as a SF if you were just looking to vape MM.

53.46

WF Marshmallow Candy: May be based on a Peep? A little drier than a Peep. Very dense. Pretty sweet. Maybe verging on cereal MM territory, but not quite. It doesn't have that crunchiness cereal MMs have. Would be good in a candy recipe to fill in with that density. Doesn't have any off notes. Doesn't have the potentially distracting malty-ness FA MM has. A good, clean MM flavour. Has a really nice floofy texture. Good mouthfeel without getting overly thick. Can use it to fluff up pretty much anything. Fairly soft, seems like it would fade into the background of a mix fairly well. Not as bold or distracting as FLV MM or FA MM would be, which have more specific uses. WF MC is a good utility flavour, very versatile.

56.46

'utility flavours' are flavours you can use in multiple applications. eg. Stixx Mixx make really great coffees, but their uses are very specific. VSO Espresso on the other hand can be used for coffee, espresso, can use low for accent notes, can use it higher to make it really punchy and bold.

JF Marshmallow: Cereal MM. Dry, crunchy. Not at all creamy. Really sugary, although doesn't taste like sucralose or EM. Has a vanilla that's a little bright, more artificial and pretty forward. Also has malty note that FA has. Makes it taste like a cereal MM that still has a little cereal dust on it. Really accurate to a dehydrated cereal MM with that condensed, concentrated sugary sweetness. Even has a lingering powder sugar feel. Really good flavour, although pretty specific. Not very versatile. But perfect for a cereal recipe where you want to really bring the MMs forward.
Pretty potent. Use around 1.5%. Probably around 2% max.

1.00.32

FLV Marshmallow Vanilla: Really great authentic MM. Very thick and full, but also kind of airy. Not crisp like a cereal MM. The vanilla is really well blended in. It doesn't sit on top like a lot of others. The vanilla is fairly light, very natural, not exaggerated. Despite it being called MM Vanilla if you weren't looking for it you might not notice it. No off notes. Has a powdery finish like a MM. Almost like a homemade MM which you coat in corn starch and powdered sugar. Has the ability to really stand out in a mix. It can make something MM flavoured. If you're not careful it can make things too MM flavoured. Instead of it being a recipe that has MMs in it it can become a MM recipe. Some people have had success in hiding it in a recipe. Although probably not best used as an additive where you don't want to taste the MM. The closest flavour ID10-T has tried to a real, homemade MM. Fresh thought the mouthfeel was remarkably smooth and full. Has a bit of a textured finish. It's very thick and coat your mouth.

1.03.08

OOO Marshmallow Vanilla: Has the best mouthfeel. Silky. Fills your mouth and coats your whole palate with MM. Very floofy texture, but also has the outside of the MM and the dry, powdery sugar. Does a really good job at capturing all the elements of a MM. Tastes pretty good as a SNV. But after 3-5 days the flavour gets so good. Gets better and better the longer it steeps. Get more and more mouthfeel, gets floofier. A secret ingredient to a lot of the more popular commercial eliquids. Has a great vanilla that's reasonably bright and almost rich. One of Fresh's favourite flavours of all time. Almost like the MM cream you get on a sundae. An amazing, remarkable flavour. Works in a lot of applications. ID10-T tested at 2%. At 2% it's full flavoured as a SF. Fresh uses it around 0.5-0.8% in a mix to add sweetness, texture etc. Really improves a mix, takes it to next the level.

1.06.57

OOO Strawberry Jam is ridiculously good.

If you want to add more of the powdered sugar coating to a MM can use OOO Powdered Sugar. OOO PS is light in flavour, but has great powdered sugar texture.

OOO Cream Milky Undertone tastes like half and half milk. Really good flavour.

OOO Whipped Cream is another remarkable flavour.

Thank you for your notes! This is a flavour profile that I’ve been meaning to play with, but always put on the back burner for some reason.