Not all that glitters is gold ! Today, we will discuss edible glitter – the good, the bad, and the shining truth. We will provide you with some info that you need to know about edible and not-so-edible glitter so you can treat your families, pals, and colleagues with safe-to-eat sparkles that look gorgeous!
Using Edible Glitter to make your Food look Attractive
Seeing everything looking bright, colourful and sparkly on Instagram and Facebook, we also want to recreate food products with the same kind of appeal to delight and entice viewers to share our pictures and videos and hence boost likes and followers. With unicorn cakes and mermaid churro sundaes hitting the internet and appearing on every Pinterest feed and foodie blog this year, you may have noticed the growth of edible glitter as a way of enhancing foods. Foodies on Instagram are coming up with the craziest, out-of-the-box uses for edible glitter from champagne and cocktail glasses to popcorn and pizzas.
Edible glitter, a category of pixie dust, is also known by many other names including jewel dust, disco dust, lustre dust, etc. As the name goes, it simply makes your food look even more outstanding and instagram worthy. Just remember to read the label before using glitter on your food because not all glitters are safe to consume. Check the ingredients label to make sure that it is made of food ingredients like starch or sugar, and be sure to check that only authorised colours are used and that the glitter is truly “edible.”
Why check the ingredients?
A heads up – not all glitter that claims to be edible are actually edible! And there are many glitter and crystal products in the market that are not actually edible. There are cake decorating items which are labelled as ‘non-toxic’ meaning they contain ingredients that are not food-grade or actually “edible.” Some examples of these “non-toxic” ingredients are derived from plastics or car paints! While these products can be dazzling in appearance, the Food and Drug Administration advises customers to avoid ingesting these “non-toxic” edible glitter products.
The good news is that there are authentically edible glitters available that create the same effect and even some products that create even more dazzling visual effects.
How do I know if I am using Edible Glitter?
Usually the product label will indicate that the products are “edible” but when this is not specifically labelled or difficult to find then you should look at the ingredients. Most edible glitters use ingredients like sugar, acacia (gum arabica), carnauba wax, maltodextrin, approved artificial colourings and plant based natural colourings. These aren’t harmful at all and so you can embellish your cakes & cookies with all the sparkles you want without fear of doing any harm to your loved one’s health!
It is important to distinguish that non-toxic and edible are completely differently – for example, Play-Doh and poster paints are both non-toxic products, but you would’t plan on eating them, right?
So, the next time you’re looking for glitter to sprinkle over your Christmas muffins or shimmer powder for your New Year’s Eve disco ball cookies, check the box for edible ingredients.
What is it about glitter that makes them attractive?
It’s simple…people enjoy shiny objects. Researchers have discovered evidence that this desire begins in childhood, with some claiming it is linked to our “inbuilt need for water.” Non-flavoured edible glitter, which is commonly sold at craft stores, adds no additional taste to foods and is purely decorative for those occasions when a cupcake or pastry is too visually boring to entice you to buy it. While adding edible glitter on foods adds some extra bling making it attractive and enticing!
The Kicker
Edible glitter is a lovely way to make your food attractive and if you discover it to be truly edible and food-grade, then go ahead and give it a try. Some products that we especially love are high-quality food grade edible glitter from Magic Sparkles – these have an amazing effect that we haven’t seen with any other edible decorations. Not only are they certified suitable for vegan, kosher and halal diets but also use natural pant-based colours – check them out!
