this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2024
438 points (96.8% liked)

Today I Learned

17282 readers
135 users here now

What did you learn today? Share it with us!

We learn something new every day. This is a community dedicated to informing each other and helping to spread knowledge.

The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:

Rules (interactive)


Rule 1- All posts must begin with TIL. Linking to a source of info is optional, but highly recommended as it helps to spark discussion.

** Posts must be about an actual fact that you have learned, but it doesn't matter if you learned it today. See Rule 6 for all exceptions.**



Rule 2- Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material.

Your post subject cannot be illegal or NSFW material. You will be warned first, banned second.



Rule 3- Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here.

Do not seek mental, medical and professional help here. Breaking this rule will not get you or your post removed, but it will put you at risk, and possibly in danger.



Rule 4- No self promotion or upvote-farming of any kind.

That's it.



Rule 5- No baiting or sealioning or promoting an agenda.

Posts and comments which, instead of being of an innocuous nature, are specifically intended (based on reports and in the opinion of our crack moderation team) to bait users into ideological wars on charged political topics will be removed and the authors warned - or banned - depending on severity.



Rule 6- Regarding non-TIL posts.

Provided it is about the community itself, you may post non-TIL posts using the [META] tag on your post title.



Rule 7- You can't harass or disturb other members.

If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathiser or a resemblant of a movement that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of a group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you will be banned on sight.

For further explanation, clarification and feedback about this rule, you may follow this link.



Rule 8- All comments should try to stay relevant to their parent content.



Rule 9- Reposts from other platforms are not allowed.

Let everyone have their own content.



Rule 10- Majority of bots aren't allowed to participate here.

Unless included in our Whitelist for Bots, your bot will not be allowed to participate in this community. To have your bot whitelisted, please contact the moderators for a short review.



Partnered Communities

You can view our partnered communities list by following this link. To partner with our community and be included, you are free to message the moderators or comment on a pinned post.

Community Moderation

For inquiry on becoming a moderator of this community, you may comment on the pinned post of the time, or simply shoot a message to the current moderators.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
top 41 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 84 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

But when did you learn it???

[–] [email protected] 27 points 3 weeks ago

I don't know!!!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 weeks ago

Legit thought the headline was talking about marshmallows in Illinois for a second. Like, we have the same marshmallows as the rest of the country, what's the big deal about Illinois?

[–] [email protected] 43 points 3 weeks ago

I hate Illinois marshmallows!!

[–] [email protected] 30 points 3 weeks ago

This is the recipe I use to make them: https://redheadedherbalist.com/marshmallow-root-marshmallows/

You can use pretty much any herbal tea in the place of the mallow root to make different flavors. I usually dust mine with coconut powder instead of arrowroot, too. Mallow powder can be found at most health food stores, but you can also forage your own Mallows or cheese weed to make your own if you know what to look for.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

There's a native marshmallow plant(althea officinalis) that I grow in my gardens. Trying to get the roots out to make marshmallows is like trying to pull an octopus out of the ground.

It's so worth it. The flowers are quite pretty too.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Screenshotted for later. What zone are you in?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I'm in zone 6! Marshmallows like a lot of water, and will take partial shade. If you have an area that likes to puddle or gets really water logged that's a perfect place tp put them since they'll soak up all the water.

Also, they get VERY large. Like 6-7ft tall and 3-4ft wide on their second year. They do die back to the ground completely in winter though. And they can spread when they're happy so make sure you leave lots of space for them.

They are very easy to grow from seed with some stratifying in the fridge(simulate winter), or get pre-stratified seeds. Good luck and enjoy!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I didn't forget to reply! I saved this to reply later. My wife is going to love this info. We have a pretty good spot to fill in and it gets puddley in the wet area. Im 7A zone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

Sounds like the perfect spot to plant them! I'm pretty sure they'll grow in zones 5-9 so you guys should be good to go in 7a

I hope you enjoy them, they're really neat plants!

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

Very interesting, but how did it get its name?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

I think it had something to do with this guy.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Hmm, I don't get the reference. I guess I'll just have to add it to the list of mysteries like where KFC originated, the main dish at waffle house and what post hole diggers are used for.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

All joking aside, I would like to point out that the main dish at Waffle House is hash browns. I just don't want folks to be confused about such an important thing!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago

Are you serious? I just told you.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Now I'd like to taste some fresh ancient marshes mallow.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago

That's what I want to know. What do they taste like?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 weeks ago

TIL Illinois Marshmallows are from ancient Egypt.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago

It's saying modern marshmallows are made with corn syrup, starch, sugar and gelatin but originally it was made with mallow plant.

Now I want to try the mallow version - has anyone here tried them?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago (4 children)

Ancient egyptians didn’t speak english

[–] [email protected] 47 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They likely weren't called that in ancient Egypt lol

[–] [email protected] 23 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

They lived in Modern Egypt at the time

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

You've clearly never been to Egypt this century lol

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

I visited about 25 years ago and can confirm it was like living in a different century.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

there is a capitalized AND to imply this is a 2 for 1 til deal

[–] [email protected] 19 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Yeah, it was the sap of marsh mallow that the Egyptians used.

Saying that doesn't mean that they think Egyptians used the English word "marshmallow".

Edit but it likely was something like their words for those things, which then got translated again and again and again.

The original connotation didn't reach us. My native language calls the modern sweet "foam candy" (vaahtokarkki)

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

My country calls it "mice bacon" (Mäusespeck). 😅

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That doesn't make sense in any way.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Apparently it's based on the fact that the colour reminded people of the bacon used in mouse traps. Although it's a bit unclear, it could also play into things that the first company to sell marshmallows en masse in Germany used mice-shaped ones.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Ooo what do you call cotton candy?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Hattara.

It doesn't directly translate into anything. Sort of connotates the flimsiness of the product, but much else.

Hattara sounds like it could be an iron age god tbh.

Oh, oh. I wasn't too wrong. Hattara is a Finnish mythical being. https://fi.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hattara_(mytologia)

In French, the word "hattara" means father's beard, and in Greek, the word "hattara" means old women's hair.

I love etymology but Finnish ones aren't as easy to figure out as English / other PIE languages

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 weeks ago

Thank you for the reply! I've never been big on etymology but I might need to get more into it, that's so neat.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 weeks ago

Not relevant

[–] [email protected] 10 points 3 weeks ago

They also didn't speak German. What point are you trying to make?

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago

Hmmm by the looks of the title how can I trust that you learned it today and not 5 days ago?

The gall of some people smh.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 weeks ago

So they didnt always use Pig skin and bones? Damn

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

First, you take the graham. You stick the chocolate...on the graham. Then, you roast the mallow..

https://youtu.be/XlddDZkkxCc?si=IVkoKvjYv0g2tHmn

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

My hopes were up when opening this thread as I hoped it would have been completely plantbased. Too bad.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago