A perennial shrub, Althaea officinalis, which grows in salt marshes, common in the eastern U.S.; sometimes referred to as "the mortification plant", because the gooey substance extracted from the roots, called mucilage, was used by morticians. Known for thousands of years in many cultures for its medicinal uses, marshmallow was even a human staple during famines. The Greek physician Hippocrates paid tribute to its value in treating open wounds. Another Greek, Dioscorides, prescribed it in a vinegar infusion for toothaches and insect stings. The Roman poet Horace advertised the use of the roots and leaves as a strong laxative. The Egyptians used it for confections that they flavored with honey. Renaissance apothecaries dispensed it for urinary ailments, gonorrhea and any mouth infection. The roots can be blanched and then fried, and they're used in the inventive French confection pâte de guimauve. The plant's sap was used to make marshmallow candy until the mid-1800s.
Modern marshmallows are a mixture of corn syrup or sugar, gelatin, gum arabic and flavoring. In 1948, Alex Doumak, a marshmallow manufacturer, found a way to pipe the candy, so that it could be cut into the small "tubes" that children push onto the end of sticks and roast over a campfire.
