Do you remember those little silver-coated sugar balls you used to be able to get for decorating baked goods? I thought those were so awesome as a kid. They were sparkly, and made of sugar, and they said “do not eat” on the container.
I just found out their official name– they are “silver French dragées.” A company called India Tree makes them (still not recommended for eating, especially by the state of California, which concerns me since California also recommends you don’t hang Christmas lights due to the lead in the wire casing)…
But oh, just look at these:
Lianne, Lara, if you’re reading this– think of the myriad cupcake possibilities!
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Tell me about it! I can’t have ball-bearings on my cupcakes because of stupid California. I’m going to have to set up a black-market supply line. They should totally legalize those. Think of what it could do for our state’s economy!
Haha! Thanks Jessie. Those bring me back, yesiree! They’re really hard to eat though, but still pretty. I’ve seen cake decorators put them on the cake with tweezers. At least cupcakes are smaller!
Seriously! And are you telling me that SCIENCE can’t figure out a way to make completely non-toxic metallic dragées? John Holdren, are you listening??
Lara, I don’t know why this came to mind, but you could make some lovely “pierced nipple” cupcakes with those things. Just two dragées placed on either side of a centered dollop of darker pink frosting! I hope you make those and then become famous and make lots of money off them. In hard times, people turn to cupcakes… I know it.
Hahaha nipple cupcakes! The erotic bakery should sell those.
I’ve wanted to use the silver dragees before but I was too scared because like you, I read that they shouldn’t be eaten…what?! can you imagine biting into cake with frosting covered in dragees and having to spit the little ball bearings out one by one?
yeah, california’s a bit stringent, which can be both good and bad. We were at renting a car at the SFO airport and saw a sign for Prop 65.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Proposition_65_(1986)
Yes, apparently car rental places can cause cancer, too.
I was SO OBSESSED with these when I was younger. What wiggs me out is that I remember reading the ingredients and it’s like “sugar, silver.” How can you put something on a cake that you’re not supposed to eat?! They do make edible glitter though. Like full on iridescent glitter. I asked the lady at the pastry shop what it was made of, and she looked at me all annoyed and said, “I don’t know, sugar?” Psh.
Lianne – “Because of the overuse of the vague warning, the ubiquitous signs ultimately communicate very little information to the end user.” That’s so interesting!
Faith – Edible glitter is what goes in some makeup! There’s also glitter that is rated edible (so it goes in lipstick) and glitter that is only okay to put around eyes (like for eye shadow) but not on the mouth. You should’ve told that girl at the counter that there’s NO WAY IT’S MADE FROM SUGAR, LADY!
Okay, so I think I may have just found one of the best sites ever on the internet… an edible glitter manufacturer. I think gum arabic and 100% magic are the main ingredients. They can even make you a Pantone specific glitter color. I wonder if their wound care and drug delivery systems can also be colored like that…
edible glitter based maggot wound cages?
Woah there, Faith, WOAH.
Actually, that might be handy if you are preparing for zombi attack, though. The zombies will work their way through the shiny wound dressings and their contents, before they ever get to your flesh, thereby allowing you to escape.
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