Re: questions about marzipan

["David K. Bodman" <dkbodman@nr.infi.net>]

Poster: "David K. Bodman" <dkbodman@nr.infi.net>

At 08:36 PM 9/18/96 -0400, you wrote:
>
>Poster: Tanner Lovelace <lovelace@netcom.com>
>
>On Tue, 17 Sep 1996, Becky McEllistrem wrote:
>
>> I was watching some cooking shows and found some ideas for sculpting
"fruit" using marzipan. 
>> Basically they were rolling marzipan dough into fruit shapes then using
food coloring for the various
>> colors of the items.  I'm not sure this is terribly period but I  was
really thrilled with the idea and was 
>> thinking about doing some for various upcoming events.  My main question
is how far ahead can
>> you make marzipan items and still have them be edible?  Can you actually
do something several 
>> days ahead?  What is the best way to store it?  If you're trying to use
molds of some sort for making 
>> people,  are there any good locations for finding said molds?
>
>I used to live in Spain and marzipan can be found in abundance there.
>I don't know if they used any special preservatives, but I never once
>had any problem with keeping marzipan around for a week or so.

For many years, this has been a favorite Twelfth night gift to my friends,
especially when nestled in a little basket with some fake "Easter grass".

Another form of the confection is called "marzipane", in which the marzipan
is rolled out into a flat surface, cut into squares, and little pictures
painted on with food coloring. Very often the marzipane is mixed a good deal
drier than the marzipan, since you want a very smooth, almost non-porous
surface to do the painting on..
But doing the fruit is fun..the "crease" in the apricots, the dimples in the
apples, (with a clove stuck in to simulate the stem), and rolling the
strawberries on a bit of screening to simulate their rough surface.

Daoud

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