From vegan s'mores to vegan sweet potato casserole, these DIY marshmallows are your animal-free key to gooey goodness.

For gelatin avoiders who miss the singular pleasures proffered by the perfect roasted marshmallow or gooey sweet potato topping, marshmallow season can be a sad, sad time. But you need suffer no more. A gelatin-free version of the confection can be yours, one which takes well to roasting and can be made at home.

Dave Soleil, the marshmallow mastermind behind the blog Vegan Marshmallows created a sweet, savvy service when he started the blog as an open-source recipe. He explains:

In early 2009, I set out to create an "open source" vegan marshmallow recipe. Vegan marshmallows have eluded the public sphere for many moons. There are a few vegan marshmallow recipes floating around the Internet but, at the time of writing this, most were total flops.

He performed extensive research on molecular gastronomy, hydrocolloids, and gelatin-based marshmallows to come up with the starting point recipe, with the idea that readers could then contribute ideas on how to improve upon the basic recipe.

The marshmallows in the recipe are firm to the touch and can be dressed up nicely, but are also melty under heat, and puff perfectly when they catch on fire, just like a good marshmallow should.

To sweeten the pot, the blog offers a host of other vegan marshmallow miscellanea as well, including recipes for agave nectar marshmallows, margarita marshmallows, mocha marshmallows, and meringue. Mmm. And although, Dave has stopped actively posting on the blog, comments are still open. Here's the recipe: vegan marshmallows. Go make some marshmallows, indulge in some sweet stickiness, and leave your feedback to keep the open source action alive.