and on a related topic ....

this just came to mind a propos to my brigadeiros post:

while jimmies are "safe", did you know that those silver dragees used to decorate cookies and confections are very controversial?

this subject may be a little old {by a few years} but it is still interesting nonetheless. i have been eating these things since i was a kid and i NEVER suffered any ill effects, as have none of my friends or anyone else i know, for that matter.

to hear about this controversy, listen to this npr broadcast, entitled toxic cookie decorations. fun & informative.

you can also read about the controversy a bit as it relates to their use in indian sweets.

apparently you can still find them at sur la table. i will continue to buy mine and use them.

if you ever wondered what exactly is in a dragee, according to sprinkle king it consists of:

Sugar	75.6742%
Corn Starch	24.1001%
Gelatin	0.1454%
Silver	0.0803%

So...if you ate a 25 g package (which has hundreds of individual dragées), you'd ingest about 20 mg of silver. The amount of silver in a bunch of cookies would be more in the range of tenths of mgs.

info taken from here

gelatin?? not in the ones i ate.

my RIP should only read:

died as a result of eating silver dragees.
what a way to go.

don't forget to set your clocks back this weekend
after 2 am saturday night!!

yay, an extra hour of silver dragee eating!