Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Pop Rocks


tan319

Recommended Posts

Making your own pop rocks is going to be incredibly difficult unless you have thousands of bucks for the pressurizer and the tank that melts the sugar.

I posed the question once to a chef at a very popular pastry school and he emailed me back that they could only kind of poorly approximate the effect.

Included was a blueprint of the machine that process' that kind of candy and it was unreal.

You might experiment with some kind of ISI soda siphon rig that uses Co2 but I wouldn't risk it.

Instead, maybe put out some feelers to the Chef Rubber people to get their source and see if they do flavours specifically for ethnic markets ( Hispanic, Jamaican with Tamarind for instance) or just google it.

They do cover well with tempered chocolate and I sometimes enclose them in a scoop of ice cream ( i sometimes do carbonated ice cream sodas like that) right before I send it out.

They hold up.

Good luck to you but be careful with the experiments :unsure:

Edited by tan319 (log)

2317/5000

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...
I finally have a reason to want pop rocks.  This topic is 5 years old and I'm pretty sure I've heard that they sell these but I haven't found them.  Suggestions?

Chef Rubber. Look under "pastry rocks". Do we get to hear what you're using them for? :biggrin:

In fact, I've never been quite clear on the process of taking neutral pop rocks and giving them flavour, so if anyone has any advice on that, I'd love to learn.

Edited by mkayahara (log)

Matthew Kayahara

Kayahara.ca

@mtkayahara

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Chef Rubber has them in plain and chocolate coated. I keep the plain ones on hand all of the time. I haven't tried the coated. Probably won't.

Pop rocks are fun. I starch mold invertase-treated fondant with boozed cherries, sit them on discs of ganache with pop rocks and feuilletine then dip the whole thing in chocolate. I call them Cherry Poppers, they always go over well.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I received my package yesterday and popped some in my mouth this morning - I giggled like I was 12. They aren't completely neutral BTW, there is a slight sweetness to them. So now I just need to figure out what I want to do with them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, they're not truly neutral, they're sugar-based and have their own sweetness. They're only neutral in that they're not intentionally flavored like the ones you find in stores.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm trying to figure a way to get them inside a sphere...but if nothing else they'll find their way into my VDay aphrodisiac meal.

you cant put them in anything that is spherified (sp?) b/c they are made out of sugar and sugar dissolves in water. All the spherification that I've seen is water based as the various hydrocoloids have to be hydrated in water..... Unless you know how to encapsulate an oil or fat (which if you do, I'd love to hear the process please!)

Maybe you could use the chocolate coated one though since the chocolate would create a barrier...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

Hello everyone,

I just got some pastry rocks from chefrubber.com and I was thinking about making a creme brulee and adding some of these to it. First question is kinda stupid but when would be a good time to add the "PR" to the creme brulee? before I put in the oven or after? Also what else can I do with them?

"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast"

Oscar Wilde

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They will definitely dissolve in a custard if not coated. I like to use a combination of the pop rocks and caramelized rice crispies. The rice crispies provide a nice crunch and then there's the surprise when things start popping in the mouth. Chocolate, caramelized rice crispies, pop rocks and whatever flavor component seems appropriate at the time. Butter, peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, nutella, praline paste, hazelnut paste, pistachio paste, caramel... you get the point. Mix the flavor component with melted chocolate, stir in the crispies then the pop rocks. Makes a nice base layer for dessert items.

Edited by Tri2Cook (log)

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mix the flavor component with melted chocolate, stir in the crispies then the pop rocks. Makes a nice base layer for dessert items.

The rice krispies and pop rocks won't dissolve in the chocolate / nutella/ flavor component? They still stay crisp?

Will they have a pretty short shelf life?

Beaches Pastry

May your celebrations be sweet!

Beaches Pastry Blog

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The rice krispies and pop rocks won't dissolve in the chocolate / nutella/  flavor component? They still stay crisp?

Will they have a pretty short shelf life?

I've never had it be an issue. You will hear the sound of some of the rocks popping when you stir them in but most of them seem to survive. I've never had the rice crispies go soggy. I've left a piece in the cooler for 5 days just for testing purposes and they're still crispy on day 5. I've done it without bothering to caramelize the rice crispies and still been fine after 3 or 4 days. I don't usually need more than a day hold time for what I do so it's never been a problem but they seem to hold up pretty well.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What if I put the "pop rocks" on the creme brulee after it was cooked and cooled down, right when I put the sugar on it to caramelize with a torch?

"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast"

Oscar Wilde

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...