Your Office Vending Machine Will Never Be This Awesome.
April 16, 2013 9:06 AM Subscribe
What makes a sweet street treat even better? Awesome artists. From Southern China, Sugar Painting makes elaborate, edible toffee masterpieces by carefully draping hot sugar onto cool marble. In Chongqing they make super floral sugar floss in a rainbow of colours. This artist from Xian blows hot sugar as if it were glass. From Istanbul, Tarihi Osmanlı Macunu (aka Traditional Ottoman Candy) is made with five different flavors of thick taffy spiraled deftly around a stick, creating a delicious lollipop. Dragon Beard Candy from Thailand is not only tasty but a great way to learn about geometric progression. And while a Thai banana pancake may seem pretty straightforward, there are always ways to jazz it up.
Some days though, you just need to get paid.
Some days though, you just need to get paid.
Or if you simply must incorporate a soulless machine in your candy making, there's CandyFab (I'm pretty sure they say the output's not edible though)
posted by jepler at 9:25 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by jepler at 9:25 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
"Special attention has been paid to the selection of all materials coming into contact with the sugar bed or with the hot air stream to make it possible to fabricate food-grade pieces if desired."
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:31 AM on April 16, 2013
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:31 AM on April 16, 2013
My wife and I have a dream of opening a Chinese street food restaurant for all the goodies we'll never be able to find over here.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 9:38 AM on April 16, 2013
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 9:38 AM on April 16, 2013
When I was little, there was a person who did toffee stretching and shaping live at the China pavillion in EPCOT center. It was awe-inspiring to me. (Looks like it's been replaced by characters from Mulan nowadays, though.)
posted by Wylla at 10:01 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Wylla at 10:01 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
This artist from Xian blows hot sugar as if it were glass.
Oh, man, as the end of that video approached, I was a little skeeved about they guy's spit getting blown into the candy, but mostly I kept thinking, "Okay, now break off the part you had your mouth on. Break off the part you had your mouth on. BREAK OFF THE PART YOU—Oh, man, he didn't break it off."
posted by BrashTech at 10:12 AM on April 16, 2013 [5 favorites]
Oh, man, as the end of that video approached, I was a little skeeved about they guy's spit getting blown into the candy, but mostly I kept thinking, "Okay, now break off the part you had your mouth on. Break off the part you had your mouth on. BREAK OFF THE PART YOU—Oh, man, he didn't break it off."
posted by BrashTech at 10:12 AM on April 16, 2013 [5 favorites]
GODDAMMIT.
posted by Jilder at 10:50 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Jilder at 10:50 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
I'm pretty sure I saw the candymakers at EPCOT when I went in December. They were making Disney characters, but that didn't make the process any less awesome.
posted by Spatch at 10:51 AM on April 16, 2013
posted by Spatch at 10:51 AM on April 16, 2013
(No worries, Jilder. Not a proper double.)
posted by Sys Rq at 11:06 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Sys Rq at 11:06 AM on April 16, 2013 [1 favorite]
It's the artistry from that last link that sets it all apart.
posted by Jilder at 11:13 AM on April 16, 2013
posted by Jilder at 11:13 AM on April 16, 2013
I'd never heard of gelatinas before, but I just spent the past 20 minutes watching videos of how they're made. daisy and rose
posted by belladonna at 11:38 AM on April 16, 2013
posted by belladonna at 11:38 AM on April 16, 2013
They definitely still do the candy at EPCOT, but it's at the Japan pavillion. In Japanese, the candy-making art is called Amezaiku, and has been well known in Japan for around 250 years. At EPCOT specifically, the Amezaiku artist Miyuki Sugimori has been working at the Japan pavillion for over a decade. She's extremely skillful and entertaining.
My wife and her family are huge Disney fans, and every time we go down to WDW we make a point of stoppping by in EPCOT for a candy demonstration. We love Miyuki's little performance, and several little bits of her routine have made their way into our regular vocabulary. (The "ouch ouch" at about 1 minute into that video is our favorite. She works that into just about every demo.)
Last summer, after talking about it for years, we took my wife's family on a big trip out to Tokyo. On the train from Narita, my wife kept looking at her watch, saying she had a surprise for all of us and was worried about being late. We checked into the hotel, dropped our bags, and immediately dashed off to the metro and headed off somewhere into the heart of the city. After wandering around and several wrong turns, we made it to Amezaiku Yoshihara, where Yoshihara-san himself gave us a candy art lesson. Let me tell you, while it may look easy on the video, candy art is hard to do. We spent an hour learning how to make candy rabbits, and the best any of us could manage looked like some sort of monsters. We refer to them now as "the abominations."
posted by Guernsey Halleck at 12:31 PM on April 16, 2013 [3 favorites]
My wife and her family are huge Disney fans, and every time we go down to WDW we make a point of stoppping by in EPCOT for a candy demonstration. We love Miyuki's little performance, and several little bits of her routine have made their way into our regular vocabulary. (The "ouch ouch" at about 1 minute into that video is our favorite. She works that into just about every demo.)
Last summer, after talking about it for years, we took my wife's family on a big trip out to Tokyo. On the train from Narita, my wife kept looking at her watch, saying she had a surprise for all of us and was worried about being late. We checked into the hotel, dropped our bags, and immediately dashed off to the metro and headed off somewhere into the heart of the city. After wandering around and several wrong turns, we made it to Amezaiku Yoshihara, where Yoshihara-san himself gave us a candy art lesson. Let me tell you, while it may look easy on the video, candy art is hard to do. We spent an hour learning how to make candy rabbits, and the best any of us could manage looked like some sort of monsters. We refer to them now as "the abominations."
posted by Guernsey Halleck at 12:31 PM on April 16, 2013 [3 favorites]
« Older "Coffee ... is still just roasted beans and water" | "with the dog who looks like she has to poop." Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:23 AM on April 16, 2013 [3 favorites]