Dehydrating Marshmallows For Hot Cocoa
Today it’s all about how to dehydrate marshmallows for hot cocoa and more. When the marshmallows go on sale this is the perfect time to dehydrate several quart mason jars full to supply the family for the next several months. These taste like the Lucky Charms in the cereal boxes.
If you love hot cocoa or hot chocolate, you will love adding some of these to your hot drink. Oh my, they make the warm drink even more delicious. If you have your own homemade cocoa mix, make a cup and add a few of these mini marshmallows.
How To Dehydrate Marshmallows
You may already know that November is the best month to stock up on these little white gems, or even the flavored ones.
The stores have several flavors, but I decided on the mini white ones (over the regular marshmallows) and the orange, strawberry, lemon, and lime-flavored ones too. The white ones are perfect for hot cocoa or chocolate. The flavored ones are great for snacking or adding to cereals.
What’s nice about dehydrating marshmallows you open the bags and place them in a single layer on the dehydrator trays. Turn your unit on and set the temperature to 150 degrees. This is the temperature for the Excalibur brand, anyway. Please check your brand for the correct temperature.
They don’t change much in size at all after dehydrating. The humidity of the room and the temperature setting on your dehydrator will determine how long they will take to be dried completely.
You just need to test them to make sure they are crunchy throughout the entire marshmallow. The marshmallows do not shrink like other foods we dehydrate. They puff up a bit if anything as you can see below.
As with anything I dehydrate, I always let the food items sit for a few days before using my FoodSaver vacuum sealer to seal the jars full of these treats. I don’t use oxygen absorbers because I only store these for one year.
How To Condition Your Fruit or Vegetables
If you live where it is HUMID: “To condition the fruit, take the dried fruit that has cooled and pack it loosely in plastic or glass jars. Seal the containers and let them stand for 7 to 10 days. The excess moisture in some pieces will be absorbed by the drier pieces. Shake the jars daily to separate the pieces and check the moisture condensation.” https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/dry/pack_store.html
I live in the DRY DESERT: I set my fruit and vegetables on my countertop for 5-7 days. Ten days is even better to make sure everything is dry before using your FoodSaver unit.
How To Dehydrate These Gems
- 1-6 bags of mini/little marshmallows
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Place the mini/little marshmallows evenly on the dehydrator racks.
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I used my Excalibur Dehydrator and set the temperature at (150°F) = (65°C) degrees.
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These take anywhere from 24-30 hours to dehydrate completely.
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The time frame will always depend on the humidity of the room you are using to dehydrate your food item.
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Let the trays sit for a day or two (2 weeks is even better) before placing the marshmallows in jars to store in your pantry.
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Make sure the food is totally dry before using your FoodSaver to seal the quart mason jars.
How Can I Use These?
- Hot Chocolate
- Cocoa
- Add to Cereal
- Crunchy Snacks
How will I know they are totally dry?
If you bite into a marshmallow and it’s still soft, they’re not done. If they crumble in your hand or break apart with a spoon on a plate, then you know they are dry.
Just think of the cereals we buy that have those yummy dehydrated hard marshmallow treats.
As a Master Canner Preserver, I can safely say these will keep safely on your pantry shelf for a year if you seal the jars with a FoodSaver.
What are marshmallows made of?
They are basically made out of sugar, gelatin, water, and air.
Can I freeze marshmallows?
Yes, you can for sure. They take up space in our freezer, but you can freeze them.
Hot Chocolate/Cocoa Mix
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup Dutch cocoa or any dry unsweetened cocoa
- 2/3 cup water
- 4 cups milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- whipped cream (optional)
- peppermint bark (optional: place a small piece in the bottom of each cup and pour the hot chocolate over the peppermint bark, if desired)
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Place the sugar and cocoa in a saucepan and blend the mixture. Add the water and stir until blended.
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Add the water and stir until blended.
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Bring the mixture to a boil and stir constantly for two minutes.
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Add the milk slowly and heat thoroughly, but do not boil. Serve with whipped cream, if desired.
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Please note*** If you want to make a dry mix: My Thrive Instant Milk Can states: 1 cup water + 2 tablespoons dry milk = 1 cup milk. It also says (to make it easy) 4 cups water + 2/3 to 1 cup dry milk = 4 cups milk. My recipe calls for 4 cups milk so I would add 1 cup dry milk to the recipe with a note to add 4 cups water when making this recipe with the 1 cup Instant Dry Milk.
Looking for more items to dehydrate? Check out these other Dehydrating Posts I have done:
- Dehydrating Apples
- Dehydrating Bananas
- Dehydrating Blackberries and Powder
- Dehydrating Blueberries and Powder
- Dehydrating Cilantro
- Dehydrating Cucumbers and Powder
- Dehydrating Ginger and Powder
- Dehydrating Green Onions and Powder
- Dehydrating Kale and Kale Powder
- Dehydrating Kiwi
- Dehydrating Lemons and Powder
- Dehydrating Marshmallows
- Dehydrating Peppermint Marshmallows and Powder
- Dehydrating Mushrooms and Mushroom Powder
- Dehydrating Onions and Powder
- Dehydrating Pears
- Dehydrating Pineapple
- Dehydrating Raspberries and Powder
- Dehydrating Spinach and Powder
- Dehydrating Strawberries
- Dehydrating Tomatoes and Powder
- Dehydrating Watermelon
Final Word
I hope today’s post about how to dehydrate marshmallows gets you excited to preserve your food if you aren’t already doing it. There is something so awesome about having your own mini grocery store in your own home.
Please keep prepping, we must take care of our own family if a disaster hits our neighborhood. We can do this, I promise. May God bless this world, Linda
I wanted to wish you and your family a very Happy and Blessed New Year and to say that I love the recipes.Also I was Just wondering how much powdered milk to use if I wanted to make a dry hot cocoa mix and just add water ?
Hi Judy, thank you so much! I would look at your brand of powdered or instant milk and put the ratio of dry milk to water to equal 4 cups milk. I’m looking at my Thrive Instant Milk Can as we speak and it says 1 cup water + 2 tablespoons dry milk = 1 cup milk. It also says (to make it easy) 4 cups water + 2/3 to 1 cup dry milk = 4 cups milk. My recipe calls for 4 cups milk so I would add 1 cup dry milk to the recipe with a note to add 4 cups water. I hope this makes sense. I’m going to add this information to the recipe card. Great idea! Happy New Year, girlfriend! Linda
Happy New Year, Linda ~
I LOVED dehydrating marshmallows! So easy. The real problem with them is that they melt in the mouth and I couldn’t stop eating them!!
The time I did DH them, I made Snowman Soup for my grandkids for Christmas! A Christmas mug, a packet of hot cocoa mix, a packet of “snowman poop” (aka DH marshmallows) and a peppermint stick (aka candy cane). They loved that the marshmallows were called “snowman poop”!! Gotta love their young ages! This year they asked me where their “poop” was and I told them that since we didn’t have any snow, I could not find any!! Love those kiddos!
Hi Leanne, oh my gosh!!! I love that idea on the Snowman Soup!! Best idea ever!! The snow poop sounds so cute! Happy New Year!!! Linda
What kind of dehydrator do you have/ recommend?? Thanks
Hi Andi, I have an Excalibur Dehydrator, but I have heard the Nesco is a good one as well. One of my good friends has a Nesco and loves it. Linda
I have the large size of marshmellows can they be dehydrated like the mini ones. Not the great big size but just the size before the mini’s. Debbie
Hi Debbie, yes you can but you will have to cut them into smaller pieces before you do. Even the small ones take a long time. The larger ones would not dry evenly. Linda
I was wondering, after dehydrating you said you vacuum seal them in jars. They don’t expand? If you try and vacuum seal a regular marshmallow, they expand tremendously (kids are fascinated watching it happen).
Hi Susan, I bet the kids love watching those marshmallows expand in the jars, I love it. When you dehydrate the marshmallows they do not expand in the jars because they are dry and the air has been removed from them. They stay the same size. Linda
Thanks for your reply linda. I’m going to do it and just cut them into smaller pieces
Debbie
Hi Debbie, I just finished dehydrating some peppermint ones! So fun! They take forever to dehydrate but it’s worth it. Linda
It’s so great to have the marshmallows dehydrated. They taste so delicious! Thanks for the idea!
Hi Alli, it’s so fun to have marshmallows in the pantry, right? Thank you for the 5 stars!! Linda
What a fun idea!❤️ My girls and I dehydrated marshmallows yesterday. They loved picking out the marshmallows out at the store! Thank you so much for sharing! We have tried many of your other ‘dehydrating’ recipes. I love your step by step instructions! Thank you, Linda!❤️
Hi Camille, oh my gosh, the marshmallows will never go bad again! The hot chocolate will be ready for these! Thank you for the 5 stars! Linda