The secret behind chewy cookies: why marshmallows taste so good [Watching science YouTube]

According to The Financial News, snacks made with Marshmallow are gaining popularity, and the Marshmallow’s signature chewiness comes from its polymer network.
On the 21st, the science YouTube channel "Unrealscience" explained that Marshmallows are made with gelatin. As the gelatin protein is heated, the molecules tangle into chains and help the mixture hold a shape between a liquid and a solid. As Marshmallows form, they acquire both the viscosity of a liquid and the elasticity of a solid, which creates their chewy texture.
In fact, liquids have viscosity but no elasticity, while solids have elasticity but no viscosity. Marshmallows, however, end up with both viscosity and elasticity.
In particular, Marshmallows are said to have an interior made up of a polymer network.
A polymer network is a giant molecular material in which linear polymer chains are chemically or physically connected to form a three-dimensional mesh structure. As gelatin cools, it clumps together densely and becomes a Marshmallow, and the Marshmallow itself turns into a polymer network.
When you bite into a Marshmallow, it first resists like a solid. But when you cut or chew it, it stretches like a liquid, and its viscosity and elasticity appear at the same time, giving it a unique mouthfeel.
Meanwhile, the crisp texture and sound often felt in snacks, alongside the Marshmallow’s chewiness, are due to buckling. Buckling occurs when an object under compression bends and then suddenly breaks, and this phenomenon is what creates the crunchy sensation in snacks.
jiany@fnnews.com Yeon Ji-an Reporter