Marshmallows went from an appearance on a Monifieth girl’s birthday list, to her parents’ successful side hustle, Phlump.
“We were an accident,” laughs Gemma Chapman, half of the husband and wife duo behind Phlump gourmet mallows.
“We were never meant to be a business.”
Now, the “accidental” business is a thriving marshmallow company, stocked in numerous shops locally, and further afield.
Their unique product, and its delicious taste, means that Phlump has only gone from strength to strength – despite its surprising beginnings.
“Me and Craig have a little girl named Summer, and last Christmas she had marshmallows and marshmallow fluff on her list,” says Gemma.
“Her birthday arrived in June and again, it said lots of marshmallows.
“Craig said if she’s going keep asking for marshmallows, I’m just going to learn how to make them.
“And that’s basically where it started.
“The first marshmallows were a catastrophe.
“That was basically a green light to Craig, he was like ‘I am not letting this go, I am going to figure out how to do this’.”
Craig and Gemma then learned how to make marshmallows to fulfil their daughter’s wishlist.
This rapidly developed into Phlump providing marshmallows for a handful of small businesses and their orders have only grown since then.
Elite tasting force behind Phlump’s flavours
The duo sell a range of flavours of the quirky tasty treat, many of which are suggested by Gemma’s team of marshmallow experts – her high school class.
“I teach at Monifieth high and I got my class involved,” she says. “And the kids get so excited about it.
“I run a marshmallow challenge and I get them all to come up with new flavours, and then Craig will pick one and we’ll take it in, they’ll try it and vote.”
Gemma uses halal gelatine so that Muslim pupils in her class can be included in the fun.
“The kids will all come up with the best weird and wacky flavours,” laughs Gemma.
Some of Phlump marshmallow flavours include cookies and cream, Baileys, mint chocolate, salted caramel, rhubarb crumble and many more.
How do Phlump make their gourmet marshmallows in Monifieth?
So how do Gemma and Craig create their delicious marshmallows?
“Marshmallows are quite hard to make,” Gemma says, “and I think that’s why so few people do it.
“It’s sugar, water and gelatine, and you have to bring it to a specific boiling point.
“Once we have boiled it, we put it into the mixer. The whisk has variable speeds and times depending on how much you’re putting in.
“That’s how you make the marshmallow base, then you would need to add your flavours.
“We do different things – sometimes we add our flavours into the syrup. Mint, for example, is really reactive so we add that in right at the beginning.
“Whereas our salted caramel we add that in right at the final moment and just mix it through.
“We have to have the gelatine bloomed in advance, and then we mix them together at very specific times.
A pinch of cloud and a lot of patience.”
Gemma’s marshmallow ‘recipe’
“If any of the measurements, the heat or the timings are off, you just have to stop and start again.
“I threw two batches in the bin just this week because I just took my eye off the ball.
“You can overboil or whisk it too long, and as soon as you whisk too long, you can’t get it out of the bowl to get it onto the tray.
“It’s really unworkable and I don’t want to put it out as a product because it’s not perfect.
“We often joke when people ask us how to make marshmallows, that it’s just a pinch of cloud and a lot of patience,” laughs Gemma.
“But it definitely takes a lot of patience!”
After mixing, they pour the mixture into the tray, lay on the toppings and allow the marshmallows to set overnight.
Then, they use a guitar cutter – a nifty slicing device – to cut the marshmallows to size.
“We then dust them in an icing sugar and cornflour mix, because they’re very, very sticky,” adds Gemma.
“Marshmallows are really hard to work with if you’re not sure what you’re doing.
“They’re like a glue, they just want to stick to everything!”
Phlump journey full of ‘pinch me moments’
So what is it like working with your significant other?
“We’re really, really lucky that we really like each other,” laughs Gemma.
“Craig has an amazing sense of humour. So even when I’m getting tired, he makes it really funny.
“It will get to half ten at night, and I think: no-one else is doing this, all my friends are in their bed reading a book, and I’m making marshmallows!”
Gemma and Craig have now launched Phlump’s online store – all while working their own jobs full-time.
Though this means busy days and nights, especially during times of heaps of orders coming in, Gemma and Craig are proud of Phlump.
“I definitely have a lot of pinch me moments,” says Gemma.
“In four months, we were stocked in around 16 shops locally.
“Because we both work full time, we don’t have marketing time.
“So I don’t have time to approach people, that was all people that came to us.
“We have just been wrapped up in kindness by the local community.”
Conversation