Here’s the newest type treatment for Ledouche. I’m not satisfied with the coloring just yet, but do think that it has a lot of potential. It reminds me of an Ishihara test for color blindness. I have several other color palettes in mind and will give them a shot over the next few days.

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This is the first time I’ve had the chance to really mess with some new ideas in the past month, and I’m pretty happy with the results. I’m really getting used to the new mixer and other candy making equipment I purchased back in September and it feels good to be in the kitchen, creating whatever comes to mind.

I made a HUGE batch of strawberry lemonade marshmallows and they taste great! They consist of two smaller than normal batches of marshmallow, one flavored with a natural lemon extract and the other with a “wild strawberry flavoring” which consists of several natural flavors. I used my new mixer for the strawberry marshmallow and a smaller Kitchenaid mixer for the lemon, and then mixed the two before placing in a pan to set. They taste exactly how I wanted them to and are very airy. I’ve figured out a few tricks that yield fluffier marshmallows that I’ve created in the past, and they are staying a secret!

I also had the idea of making some biscotti earlier in the week. Someone brought a package to the office and I decided to try making them on my own. They came out great. The texture and firmness were spot on. I had to take it a bit further though and 1/2 dip them in vanilla marshmallow and then drizzle milk chocolate over them.

I wasn’t terribly sure about how the combination of textures would work out, but it’s actually good! I’m going to bring a bunch to work with me tomorrow and get some feedback from my coworkers. They’ll eat anything – but they’ll also tell me if it sucks.

I tried making marshmallows with a peanut butter swirl on top for this first time on Saturday. All in all, they came out pretty good. They were a bit denser than I wanted them to be, and I think that’s a problem with the type of mixer I’m using. It may be time to take things up a notch.

I’m going to look in to getting a 10qt 1/3HP mixer this week. A mixer like this will whip tons of air in to the marshmallow and not struggle while doing so. It’ll be a fucking marshmallow whipping monster.

Never being satisfied with anything, I also worked on a new base marshmallow recipe.  It passed the s’mores test.

I made a ton of marshmallow as favors for my recent 10-year high school reunion, and decided to take a few pictures before getting everything packed up and ready to go. I made 5 different flavors, but only took photos of the coconut and black raspberry ones. The photos, especially the one up top, came out great – especially since I just used my Canon point and shoot. Now that I have some great display platters and a light box, I’m thinking that it might be time to get a decent macro lens for my DSLR. I recently helped a coworker pick out a great Sigma macro lens for her Nikon, and may see if I can get the same for my Olympus. Any other suggestions for appropriate macro lenses out there?

One of the most enjoyable things about all of the work I’ve been putting in to the marshmallows is the chance to take some time and work on new ideas. A couple of friends from the city came out on Saturday to give me a hand with some “marshmallow prototypes” and we had a great time. Now, before you read any further in to this post, keep in mind that nothing created in my kitchen was meant for the public. This means that absolutely no time was taken on presentation and most procedures that I have put in to place for the sake of efficiency and cleanliness weren’t exactly followed. This was about fun and trying out some new things, not business.

In other words, there was a lot of beer involved.

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It’s been some time since I posted an update related to the marshmallows here. I’m always posting stuff on my Facebook page, and then completely forget that not everyone can see what’s there. I’ve been working on quite a bit lately…

I spent some time over the weekend working on my marshmallow graphic, adding some depth and trying to make it more marshmallow-like while keeping the original idea intact. The gradients and other details in the above graphic (which is nowhere near complete) are subtle, but are turning out exactly like what I have in mind. I’ll continue posting updated versions until I’m happy with it. Please comment and let me know what you think as the design progresses!

I’ve been spending a lot free time working on marshmallow recipes that contain no corn syrup and other less desirable ingredients. So much so that I have cut retail sales I’ve been doing out east this summer. I’m hoping to get back to normal pretty soon though. There has been talk about a marshmallow tasting/toasting at the Hamptons Marketplace, and I want to revisit the idea with the owners with the intentions of doing something before Labor Day. I’ve even burned some silkscreens so that I can make some T shirts with the brand logo on them to wear at the event.

A lot of orders have been coming in since June; Mostly for weddings, graduation parties, and other sorts of events. Word of mouth sales have been crazy. I’ve had several orders placed where the conversation starts off like, “I work with this woman whose cousin’s son had some of your marshmallows at a BBQ his girlfriend’s parents threw a couple of weeks ago, and managed to try a couple. I need some for this weekend!” Seriously, it’s crazy!

A friend, Patrick, is going to be coming over to the house next weekend to give me a hand with a couple of new test flavors. We are going to try to make wild cherry marshmallows, and blueberry marshmallows covered in white chocolate. Both are going to be made with natural flavorings, and we’ll probably end up using some colorings to make them visually appealing. I realize that the addition of colorings can be a bit of a contradiction of what I said about removing undesirable ingredients earlier, but you eat with your eyes first right? I guess it’s all about balance. I’m thinking that the wild cherry marshmallows can be 2 tones of red and look similar to the cotton candy ones below.

There are some other things going on, but it’s still to early to talk about them. Hopefully I’ll be able to give some details soon.

I’ll be sure to post some pics of next week’s test batches as soon as they are done!

There are very few things that really bother me. One is wearing suits. I don’t really know why – I like clothing and admit that I spend way too much money on it, but just can’t stand wearing a suit. The feeling I get knowing I’m going to have to wear a suit is reminiscent of the feelings I’d get when sitting in the doctor’s office as a child. You know, that sense you get that you won’t be  leaving that place until you’ve gotten a shot or something that sucks just as much.

My cousin Tomas is getting Married in two weeks, so I’m starting to get those feelings again.

Thankfully, I came across Cyberoptix Tie Lab about a week ago. These ties will take the sting out of wearing a suit. I mean, seriously, just check these out:

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The first printing of ledouche shirts, available to the public, will be produced this spring. I’ve been working on some completely new designs since losing all of my orignal screens back in December, and will be posting them here in the next month or two. All news related to ledouche will be posted to this site’s projects area.

I’ve been playing with the idea of etching the ledouche logo in to flasks. Any opinions? I can’t think of any classier way to get drunk.