Does anyone know how to use Gum Arabic

[cheripie]

I took a chocolate class where we used gum arabic to coat pistachio nuts to make them shiny for the top of chocolates, but I don't have notes on it. Does anyone know the other ingredients? We didn't use a panning machine, just on top on the stove.

[Kerry Beal]

I'll look it up when I get home and post.

[cheripie]

Thanks, that would be great.

[Kerry Beal]

I found it.

Varnished Nuts for Decoration, page 51 in L'enotre volume 1 (paraphrased)

1000 grams nuts

50 grams gum arabic

100 grams water

Heat water, dissolve gum arabic in it. Heat nuts to 50 C. Add the gum mixture in 6 parts, stirring well between additions to separate the nuts. Spread on baking sheet. Put in oven at 40C for 5 hours.

That's a pretty low oven, not sure how easy it would be to keep it that cool.

Edited June 26, 2007 by Kerry Beal (log)

[cheripie]

I found it.

Varnished Nuts for Decoration, page 51 in L'enotre volume 1 (paraphrased)

1000 grams nuts

50 grams gum arabic

100 grams water

Heat water, dissolve gum arabic in it.  Heat nuts to 50 C.  Add the gum mixture in 6 parts, stirring well between additions to separate the nuts.  Spread on baking sheet.  Put in oven at 40C for 5 hours. 

That's a pretty low oven, not sure how easy it would be to keep it that cool.

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I'll give it a try tomorrow. Thanks for the help!

[Kerry Beal]

I found it.

Varnished Nuts for Decoration, page 51 in L'enotre volume 1 (paraphrased)

1000 grams nuts

50 grams gum arabic

100 grams water

Heat water, dissolve gum arabic in it.  Heat nuts to 50 C.  Add the gum mixture in 6 parts, stirring well between additions to separate the nuts.  Spread on baking sheet.  Put in oven at 40C for 5 hours. 

That's a pretty low oven, not sure how easy it would be to keep it that cool.

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I'll give it a try tomorrow. Thanks for the help!

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Can you post a picture of the result? I'm curious to see how they look - and taste.

[cheripie]

I ended up following the basic recipe from Kerry, but I added proportionally a bit more water since I used chopped nuts and the amount of surface area seemed to need it. (I used 200g nuts and when everything else was scaled down there was so little liquid.) I got what I was looking for even though the amateur photographs don't show it.

Picture 1: You can sort of see the difference between the nuts on the left which were varnished and the nuts on the right which were not.

Picture 2: here was my purpose

Also, I did not put them in the oven. Mine wouldn't go that low.

Edited June 29, 2007 by cheripie (log)

[Kerry Beal]

I'm going to have to remember this trick. It seems it would add to the shelf life considerably of the nut that is exposed to the air. Does it add any discernable flavour, or decrease the nut flavour at all?

[Tri2Cook]

I'm going to have to remember this trick.

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Me too. Thanks to you both.

[cheripie]

You're welcome.

I don't taste any difference from the normal pistachio taste. The enhanced color and the slight increase in crunch really works for me. I haven't tried any other nut.

Thanks again for the help!