Make Edible Glitter

Glitter makes everything better. Even food, provided you make it edible! There are various ways of making homemade edible glitter, and a few samples are suggested here.

Ingredients

Gum arabic edible glitter:

  • 1 tablespoon hot water
  • 1 tablespoon gum arabic
  • Dye (optional)

Sugar edible glitter:

  • 1/2 cup white sugar - granulated white or crystalline sugars only (not brown and not powdered, as neither will glisten)
  • Liquid food dye, color of choice

Gum-Tex edible glitter:

  • 1 teaspoon of Gum-Tex (made by Wilton)
  • 2 teaspoons of water
  • Edible luster dust in color of choice

Steps

Gum Arabic Edible Glitter

Gum arabic is a gum that comes from the hardened sap of the acacia tree. It makes liquids viscous, but mixed together with a bit of water and then heated in an oven, it breaks up into a wonderful glitter texture.

  1. Preheat oven to 285° F (140° C).
  2. Mix together gum arabic and warm water in a cup over hot water. Mix until it is completely dissolved.
    • If you wish the edible glitter to be colored, add liquid coloring to the water before you mix the water with the gum arabic. Here are some colors you may want to use:
      • A little blue will whiten flakes
      • Yellow mixed with a little orange makes a nice gold hue
      • No added dyes will give you a silver effect.
  3. Strain the liquid through a nylon cloth. Do this to remove any clumps of gum arabic that may not have been thoroughly incorporated during the mixing.
  4. Brush the liquid onto a clean baking tray. Parchment paper can be placed on top of the baking tray to minimize cleanup.
    • A glass (pyrex) surface will work perfectly well, too.
  5. Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the mixture is dry. Allow to cool on a rack for at least 5 minutes afterward.
  6. When dry, scrape off glitter in long even strokes. Break up with a wooden spoon, for example, or sift through a strainer and store in dry covered container.

Sugar Edible Glitter

This recipe is about as simple as it gets. Depending on who you ask, it's either "sprinkles" or "glitter," but it tastes great all the same.

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF/180ºC. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper in readiness. While you can use a no-heat method, applying a little bit of heat allows the sugar (i.e. "glitter") to take the color dye even better.
  2. Divide the sugar evenly into two small bowls. You can use regular old table sugar if you want, but you'll probably find that raw sugar works better. That's because the granules are a bit bigger and withstand the heat a bit better.
  3. Add 1/2 tablespoon of the liquid food coloring to each bowl. This comes out to about 4 to 5 drops of dye for each 1/4 cup of sugar.
  4. Stir to cover the sugar in dye. Ensure that the color is on most or all of the sugar.
  5. Spread the sugar across the parchment paper on the baking sheet. Push down any lumps to make one even layer.
  6. Place in the oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Keep an eye on the sugar after 8 minutes. Depending on the oven (which may run hot), some sugars cook quicker than others. If you start to see any sugar crystals begin to melt or boil, remove from the oven.
    • While baking, check now and then and push down any lumps you see.
  7. Allow to cool. Once cooled, the glitter sugar is ready to use or can be stored in an airtight container.

Gum-Tex Edible Glitter

This is a chunkier edible glitter style. Due to the gum, it isn't the best of flavors, so make sure that it is coupled with very tasty frosting!

  1. Preheat the oven to 275º F (135º C).
  2. Mix the Gum-Tex and water. You may need to add a little more water than suggested; it shouldn't be too thick. Stir until it resembles tempera paint or a paste.
  3. Add the luster dust. Start with a small amount, increase if needed. You can get luster dust in pretty much any color, but luster dust looks great in metallic colors like gold, bronze, and silver.
  4. Spread the whole paste across a silicone mat. Use a pastry or food brush to assist.
  5. Place in the oven. Allow to dry; it must be totally dry.
    • As the material dries, it may smell a bit unpleasant.
  6. Remove from the oven when the glitter spread flakes up and is dried. Scrape the flakes of edible glitter off the mat; use a spatula to help.
  7. Break into little pieces with your fingertips and run through a sieve or colander. Either use straight away or store in an airtight container.

Tips

  • It is also possible to make edible glitter using salt. The problem with this is that few people enjoy eating anything that would be heavily salted enough to look glittery!

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Sources and Citations

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