10. 26. 2007
Gild Your Cake, Not Your iPhone
We're all tired of hearing about gold-plated cell phones, iPods -- you name it, they'll plate it, but here's something that makes sense and has been around for an age.
For years, savvy cooks have been using edible gold and silver for party food and cocktails. Easy Leaf Products the sole importer and distributor in North America for ORO FINO (edible gold) and ARGENTO FINO (edible silver), sent me some sprinkles, petals and leaves of gold to try. While I wasn't sure 23 karat genuine gold or silver leaves were meant to be eaten, there's no denying it sparkles up an evening. For easy instructions on how to go ""Drab to Fab," just check out some of their easy recipes and instructions, like "How to Gild".
Gold is actually an inert metal that simply passes through the intestinal system. In antiquity, gold was used to prepare medicines and was considered a digestive and constitutional. It is still considered so in Chinese and Indian medicine, and is also used in homeopathy thanks to its constitutional properties (especially related to the inner organs - heart, uterus, stomach).
As gold will not lose its shine up to 325º and can be frozen, you can see why cooks started using it. I love that I can sprinkle some on a chocolate cake and make it look like I spent hours, (or for people who know me, bought it at Bristol Farms.) Here's a hint from the website: Should you be attempting to garnish an item which has already dried (chocolate ganache) or is quite dry inherently (sugar cookies), try very lightly moistening the food surface. That helps the gold or silver stick.
For cocktails, here are some hints and tasty recipes:
Cocktails and Beverages - To gild a martini or other cocktail, shake some edible gold or silver sprinkles onto parchment paper. Moisten the rim of the glass by using a lemon or lime wedge. Next, turn the glass upside down into the gold or silver sprinkles and twist. Voila! You have a beautifully gilded glass. After pouring the drink into the gilded glass, feel free to sprinkle additional edible gold or silver into the beverage. One may also mix the gold/ with salt or sugar ½ and ½ for a variation
I've turned simple appetizers into sensations, displays of edible art, and now I even gild the wine glasses (if the pups didn't move so fast, I'd probably sprinkle them with some gold dust too). If I can do it, you can, believe me.
Prices range from $24 for 4 Leaves of 23K gold leaves or $20 for a booklet of 12 silver leaves.
Posted by Evan
Category:
body
Tags: gold gourmet
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