I am interested in using some Royal Icing, but I wanted to know what the shelf life is and the best way to store it?

My limited use of Royal Icing is with gingerbread houses, but I would like to step out and experiment.

Thanks,
darkchocolate

I don't know about the shelf life of unused royal icing. I know the decorations keep forever in a dust free spot. The best way to store it is in an airtight container. Make sure everything is grease free though. Grease breaks down this icing. Store ina container put plastic wrap over the icing then put the lid on the container. I have used royal icing up whenever I make it so Idon't know how long it would last. Nothing in would spoil though. But you would need to rebeat it when you went to use it again. HTH

I make all my RI with mer. powder and the shelf life is practially indefinate as long as it is stored well. If only for a few weeks i cover in saran wrap and set on the shelf. If storing for longer (which I do for colored RI) I will put in a ziplock bag, remove the air and seal (usually I'll double bag - especially for reds which are such a pain to make).

I appreciate your responses, nechee and snowshoe1. I was wondering about the shelflife after the Royal Icing has been mixed up, not a decoration.

darkchocolate

I have a batch of RI in my fridge I made two weeks ago. Seems to be fine and I plan on using it today. Hope this helps a little.

T.

Hi darkchocolate - I was referring to mixed RI not decorations. RI made with merg. powder will not spoil (not sure about made with egg whites). I have used my mixed RI up to 6 months later. I usually make a large batch and mix up a bunch of colors, and pull out the bags when I want to make decoration. I find this takes less time than mixing colors everytime I need something.

Thank you snowshoe1 for psoting again. I realized what you were talking about but nechee mentions the decorations lasting forever in a dust free spot. I appreciate knowing about the mixed RI and the storage of RI decorations.

Thanks again everyone else for all of your responses, they have been helpful. I especially like the idea of having different colors on hand when I need them.

darkchocolate

I agree, I hate to make up a batch and then end up throwing away most of it. I saved some once forever (6-8 months or something). It looked really nasty, seperated and "skin" on top, but I figured I might as well try to use it before making up a new batch. So I stirred it up and let it sit an hour. The "skin" pieces softened and it was a perfect consistency! I made my flowers and waited for them to harden.

And waited... and waited.

They never really did get crisp. Maybe it was humid or something but they kind of came out rubbery. I gave up and threw the rest away and made a new batch.

Since then I read a thread (sorry, it's saved at home but I'm "working") about mixing up small batches. I don't remember the measurements but it's something like 2 T meringue powder and 1 T water, and beat it up. I love it!!! There were some other ideas as well that some people use to make up tiny batches. I don't bother trying to save it anymore, although I'm intrigued by Snowshoe1's idea of having pre-made colors on hand.

I try to make a small batch of white royal (with the meringue powder)every so often and keep it onhand in a sealed rubbermaid container on my shelf. I often need just a bit to "glue" something together or write on a piece of fondant or something. If I need a color, I can take a bit of the white and color it to match.

I have left it sealed on the shelf for months without any problem.

If I needed to do a bunch of flowers, though, I would mix up a fresh batch.