Gold Dragees......eat At Your Own Risk?????
Decorating By tonimarie Updated 21 Sep 2008 , 3:54am by MacsMom
I have a 50th anniversary cake to make, and I found a cake on here I wanted to make with gold dragees on it. So I went online to order the dragee and read For Decoration Only 
. Now I don't know what to do. If I make it using them them do I tell the customer that they have to pick all of them off?? I don't know what to do. I really had my heart set on using an impression mat and then putting gold dragees where each line meets. What would you all do? any advice appreciated!
This is just my pesonal opinion. How many dragees are you ever going to eat? I would be more afraid of cracking a tooth on it. There is edible gold foil. You could make your own by forming fondant balls and rolling them in gold lustre dust. I live in California and no one will ship silver dragees here. What a drag!!
I'm with katefrosting on this one. If you're concerned about the dragees being too hard or whatnot I'd roll out some fondant with my pasta roller so it was all the same thickness & use a #10 or 12 piping tip to punch all the same size disks & roll them into little balls. After they've dried for a bit but are not completely dry throw em' into a baggie with gold lustre dust and ta-da...your very own home-made dragees that are fully edible & endangering no ones teeth 
Here's a thread where I posted a link about why nobody will sell silver dragees in California (scroll down to find my post on p3) http://forum.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopic-595928-30.html
...in case you're curious about why we can't get the buggers here. But I'd guess we could make them ourselves with silver luster dust, the same way Peachez suggests for gold. The guy hasn't tried to sue anyone over luster dust yet as far as I know (AUGH SSHHHHH DON'T TELL HIM ABOUT THE STUFF!)
Personally I would not hesitate to put them (silver or gold) on a cake. As stated above and in the article found on that link, there is no proof that there is anything harmful in dragees, certainly not in the quantity that might be consumed in a single slice of cake. What would you get...maybe 3, 5 dragees on one slice? MAYBE??
Alicia, that is funny, you're right your mother is soo lucky to live somewhere where silver dragees are not harmful LOL!!
I have been eating silver & gold dragees all my life, no ill effects, It seems it is only in The State of California that they are banned. I use them all the time.
Would they only be bad for you if you were a native Californian, and ate them in California? What about a Californian, who eats them in Nevada? How long do you have to live in California before they become unsafe? Now I am soo confused 
, why donât they have all of this information on the package?
I like how Fancy Flours states it:
"Although people do consume dragees in most parts of the world, some culinary professionals are recommending they be removed before eating any confectionary treat garnished with them. Federal and state authorities list silver as toxic at certain levels. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declared dragees as non-edible and requires jars to carry labels saying they're 'for decoration only.' We choose not to ship these items to California because of recent lawsuits in that state."
I tried, knowing I'd probably get red-flagged with my CA billing address, to have some shipped to my uncle in Oregon who was planning to visit (from a different company). But alas, they called me and said, "You can't fool us."
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