Effectively Effervescent

The Struggle

One of the best candies you could get as a kid was pop rocks. Eating them was like no other experience you could have. They are basically like eating crystalized soda, and soda was the best when you were younger. These were the days where you didn’t have to worry about dental hygiene because you’ve got a backup set of teeth coming in anyways. But then you get the idea that you want to mix them with soda! Your friends warn you not to do it, they even explain the dangers of gastric perforation. One of them even has a step cousin in-law who died by mixing the two! So against their better judgment you decide do it anyways, and of course nothing happens. As we get older we drift away from the foods that made us smile when we were young. Our tastes change but it’s fun to bring these experiences back to food and remind people of a simpler time. We can’t just serve a dish of Culinary Crystals and expect people to be wowed by them so we as culinarians need to find ways to add them to dishes to give that effervescence that transports us back in time. This questions commonly comes up when people are attempting to use Culinary Crystals in a dish:  

“What can I add to Culinary Crystals so they don’t pop prematurely?”

Lipids not Liquids

  If you haven’t used Culinary Crystals yet, they can add a great texture and intrigue whatever dish they are added to. These little bits of carbonated sugar can be flavored using flavor drops and flavor base. You can mix and match them to fit any flavor combination. But here’s the big twist – Culinary Crystals can’t be added to anything that contains water. If they do come in contact with water they begin to pop immediately. But that’s fine any fat based food works great. This leaves the door open for tons of great foods. Try out our Brown Butter Crumble recipe, or coat these in a flavor and sprinkle them on your next holiday chocolate bark. The Culinary Crystals can even be mixed into a buttercream frosting or ice creams. Quick tip, I would suggest double coating the culinary crystals with the favor base before adding them to the ice cream. This just helps protect the crystals from the moisture when it starts to melt. Staying on this topic, keep these crystals away from any and all moisture. After you open the package make sure it get re-sealed shortly thereafter. I prefer to toss them in an airtight mason jar with a silica packet to keep them nice and dry. If they do come in contact with water or even an exceptionally humid day they could clump. So make sure they stay dry.   But whatever you do, do not bake them! One of the thing that can make the crystals pop is heat. Some people have asked about adding them to baked goods, and that does not work out as the heat of the oven will bake out all the carbonation.  

Ready to get Cooking?

Give our Brown Butter & English Toffee Crystal Crumble and Some Like It Hot Ice Cream recipe a try! Toasty, nutty, sweet and crackling – It’s the taste of sitting by a warm fire in a quaint English countryside cottage. And if the notion of a hot ice cream blows your mind you’re not alone. This recipe takes your favorite traditional ice cream flavor and flips expectations on its head using methylcellulose and a bit of modern technique. When was the last time you served up ice cream and shouted “Get ’em while they’re hot!  

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