The year was 2015. The date, December 30th to be exact. Star Wars Episode 7 had been released 12 days prior, redeeming the franchise for fans of the original trilogy and securing its fan base within the newest generation.
Amidst the widely enthusiastic reception (those who saw it in theaters that first week know exactly which moments caused a cheer of applause), I made an odd Star Wars themed purchase: silicone ice cube trays. Of all the possible movie memorabilia, I’m not sure what directed me to this particular product. In retrospect, I have to admit it wasn’t a good investment…it was a GREAT buy!
My original intention was to have an adorably dorky yet culturally relevant conversation piece for beverage indulging guests. Who doesn’t like a frozen X-wing or Stormtrooper helmet head bobbing around in their gin and tonic? A couple tiny R2D2’s are equally enjoyable and cute in sparkling water or juice.
However, one aspect of chemistry that I overlooked is the crystallization that occurs during the freezing process and the almost guarantee that ice frozen in a normal consumer freezer will have some impurities that result in a cloudy appearance. Unfortunately, this otherwise harmless defect renders the small details of these molds virtually indistinguishable, and ultimately, the prominent mask of Darth Vadar is nothing more than a sad malformed chunk floating in my Long Island Iced Tea.
I’ve read and tried the suggested techniques to make ‘pure ice’, starting with, of course, pristine RO water, but the conclusion has barely changed and the effort is superfluous. The larger molds, like the bigger R2D2 and Millennium Falcon, are still pretty remarkable even without crystal clear results.
Not long after my adventure with nucleation and the overall exothermic process, I found another purpose for these versatile molds: chocolate. Holy hell, little did I know how labor and time intensive melting chocolate can be when special attention is made to the aesthetics of intricate details. What seems to be the bane of my ‘Star Wars culinary’ existence was once again, cloudiness. Except chocolatiers have fancier names for these qualities, such as ‘temper’ and ‘bloom’, and other fun reactions like seizing. Though my end product was visually acceptable, especially R2D2, the yield was pitiful and the activity not one that I long to repeat. If I do revisit the exercise though, it will be with simple open shapes that don’t include tiny robot legs.
My latest exploit of these bendable, squishable, indestructible trays has been thanks to a random image on the internet of edible Legos, which led me to this YouTube video and to a new confectionery adventure: Gummies.
The recipe is pretty straight forward and only has a few ingredients–corn syrup, gelatine, jell-o mix, and water. It was difficult to buy corn syrup as this substance is essentially the root of everything that’s wrong with America, but, alas, here I am.
And, surprise, surprise, gummies have their own cloudiness issue, but in this case, there are a couple of easy foolproof fixes to correct this before the forms have set, leaving you with beautifully clear glistening gummies.
I did the math on it: with all the ingredients needed for four flavors that yielded a complete batch of all molds to be fully utilized, it cost $8.37 to produce 1.472 lbs of gummies. The resulting $5.69/lb price tag (not to mention the time, about 1 hour) is a hefty markup from my grocery store’s bulk candy charge of $3.99/lb. However, 53% of the premium is specifically from the gelatin, for which the store already offers a larger quantity at a lower cost per unit (almost 30% less) that I did not take advantage of this go-around. Imagine if I could get myself a ‘gelatin guy’ and get at-cost pricing, I’d really be in business!
Joking aside, silicone molds have a wide range of uses and are pretty durable. After reading a little bit more, their versatility goes beyond edibles and can be used for shaping soap, candles, and clay and other resins for a considerable number of purposes. But back to food- it may be possible to bake with them; I have not tested this yet and I am a tad skeptical. In any case, I find it pretty neat to be able to make a unique treat tailored for any event.
