"dragees" news and stories

I'm back in my hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota, staying with my parents for Thanksgiving. I decided to have a little rummage through their cupboards to see what kind of weird stuff might be in there, and I was not disappointed! If you're home for the holidays, I suggest you do the same.

Click through the gallery to see the individual items. We have everything from vintage baking cups (right) to inedible cookie decorations. Next time my mother wants to know what's wrong with me, I'm going to say "Silver dragees, Mom. They messed me up for good."

Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!

There is blogger or two out there not entirely thrilled with Sur La Table. The posh kitchen supply store may have been responsible for firing a blogger who wrote about Rachael Ray. But you will be thrilled to hear they carry silver dragees, those lovely decorating balls covered with (gasp) a little bit of real silver.

I snapped this photo at the Portland, Ore. Sur La Table the day before Christmas. As Nicole noted in her post, the label clearly states "for decoration only." If you want to buy a bottle - not to eat, mind you - you may find them at a fancy-dancy kitchen store near you.

[Photo Sarah Gilbert]

 If you're looking for something lighter than the usual holiday fare, Culinary in the Desert's Peppermint Kisses are sure to spark your fancy. These lighter-than-air meringues have a peppermint twist to their taste and a great holiday look. By piping the meringues onto the baking sheet and decorating them with festive sprinkles and multi-colored dragées, Joe dressed up these relatively plain treats into something worthy of Santa himself. Personally, I'm still a bit jealous that he is able to find the elusive dragées - and multi-colored ones, no less -  because they look like the perfect way to top off a kiss.

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Silver dragées are the little, jawbreaker-like balls that usually adorn gingerbread houses or pastry confections in small, but beautiful numbers, particularly around the Christmas season. Their little sparkle is like a tiny star on top of a cookie tree. In vain I have searched the shelves for them this year, wanting to use them to adorn my snowflake-themed cake. Mark Pollock is the reason I could not find any silver balls for decorating this year.

Pollock, 56, is an attorney and former student activist in Northern California who sued approximately 100 of the biggest names and smallest vendors – from Martha Stewart Omnimedia to Gloria’s Cake and Candy Supplies – in pastry because he was “morally outraged” at their use of, sale of and implied endorsement of silver dragées. Though they are still legal to sell, companies no longer ship them to California stores and they have been pulled from shelves.

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