I'm sure this has been addressed somewhere online, but I haven't been able to find it...

I'm using Nicholas Lodge's recipe for gumpaste for the first time, and it says to store the paste in the refrigerator before using. That is all fine and dandy, but what about the items that I make out of the gumpaste that have to dry for a few days, and are then placed on a cake that will likely sit out overnight? Are the gumpaste items safe for eating? If any of the children decide to chow down on the gumpaste, are they going to get sick? I know this recipe is VERY popular, but the raw egg whites make me nervous!

Thanks for any insight!

It is perfectly safe. All the sugar used preserves it.

Well that is what I assumed, but then my husband chimed in and wanted to know why it had to be refrigerated in the first place then haha. So that got me questioning it.

What is the recipe? Sugar does not take the harmful organisms out of eggs, per the government and the egg board. But I would still have to see the recipe. Is it cooked over 160 degrees first?

The only other option is to use pasteurized eggs in the shell, not egg whites in a carton.

if you do not refrigerate the gumpaste from nick lodge's recipe, it will get moldy in a few days.

i used pasteurized egg whites from a carton for the gumpaste and didn't bother refrigerating it because it was for a competition piece and not to be eaten. i had wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it in a ziplock bag. after a few days, the unused gumpaste developed green patches and smelled awful!

but if properly stored and properly dried gumpaste is consumed, i wouldn't worry about it. i feel the same way about royal icing.

How someone "feels" and government backed scientific tests for food safety are two different things.

Please everyone, DO NOT get your food safety information from anywhere but a .gov or official board site.

Also, a quick call to the local HD will also separate the "feelings" from fact. Sorry, but this is a big issue to me. Opinions about food safety are a double-edged sword on a public forum. First, it gives incorrect information to the readers. Second, our posts become answers to google searches, right or wrong, further spreading incorrect food safety information.

Egg whites pasteurized in cartons are more safe than raw eggs, but not totally safe, as I posted previously. Unlike a feeling, my information comes straight from the egg board and .gov sites that deal with the diseases.

Please get the facts straight before posting about food safety. Many people are tolerant, but for a highly succeptible group, permanent and serious side effects can occur. It may not be able to be traced back to your gumpaste decoration, but we all have an obligation not to provide food that is potentially dangerous. Another, if not the biggest reason for being licensed to sell food.

i respectfully retract my "feeling" thing and hope i did not lead anyone down an unsafe path. when i get some time, i will research the safeness of dried gumpaste and royal icing with the FDA or HD. if someone already knows if any information relevant to gumpaste or royal icing is posted on an official site, i'd appreciate a link.

this is lodge's recipe (scroll down the page):
http://www.firstimpressionsmolds.com/sugarpastefondantgumpasteandpastillage.aspx

i have seen a similar recipe on the back of my tylose container.

I use dried pasteurized egg whites to make Nicholas Lodges gumpaste, as pasteurized shell eggs are hard to find. That solves any issues with salmonella or other potentially hazardous bacteria. It doesn't necessarily keep the gumpaste from getting moldy (though mold is not generally hazardous according to my food safety class--it is just disgusting,)

You mostly need to keep the gumpaste in the refrigerator or freezer to keep it from drying out. If something is infected with salmonella or another bacteria, the refrigerator will not kill those. Only heat does that-- bringing eggs to 145 for three minutes or all the way up to 165 according to Serve Safe.

The initial overnight in the refrigerator is supposed to be to improve the texture of Nick's gumpaste, it isn't for food safety.

FDA's page on egg safety:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm077342.htm

here's the Food Safety and Inspection Service page on "egg products":
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/fact_sheets/Egg_Products_and_Food_Safety/index.asp

i'm still researching the difference between pasteurized in shell vs in a carton. i usually make my cake decorating stuff with carton or meringue powder.

thank you for 'setting the record straight'. Many of us use old knowledge - it's hard to re-train an old dog
I seldom used 'real egg whites' to make Nic's recipe. Use Wilton's powdered "ColorFlow mix" OR meringue powder an you won't have any problems.

so i can use the pasurazied egg whits in a cartin for it

A

A"Hi I am new and just trying to ask a question" not sure if iam doing this correct. I need to know my cake crumbs when triming and cutting the cake is a sratch recipe. Thank you sugardayz

some say 1-2 pounds powerd sugar and some say 8 cups is it the same thing for this recipe

AMost gumpaste, like satin ice and wilton, say that it is not to be eaten anyway....maybe that is why....

There are multiple layers of confusion arising partly from the way that snippets of things end up in videos and copied online.  You have to read the (copyright) books to get all the info.

First of all UK "flowerpaste" is what we are discussing NOT the fondant that you would use to cover a cake--that fondant is called "sugarpaste" in the UK.

Nicholas Lodge works in the UK where the best eggs come from chickens that have been vaccinated against salmonella.  Alan Dunn  explains this in HIS flowerpaste recipe.

The closest equivalent in the US and Canada would be eggs from a farm certified to be both "organic" and "free range" that raises its own grain to feed its chickens without any restaurant scraps being added.  Not a common combination.

So reconstituted egg white powder (NOT meringue powder) would be the safest version of egg white.

As soon as the petals are bone dry, the microorganisms cannot live in them.  This is the same as hard dried royal icing.  And just think all you cookie makers, how many times you use royal icing--right?

Thank you Irene, that really clears things up!

With the issues of egg whites not being safe, is it possible to substitute the egg whites with ALBUMEN POWDER.  If it is possible, do you need to use pure albumen powder or can you instead use MERI WHITE or MERINGUE POWDER. And how much do you have to use per 1 egg white.

Would really appreciate an answer to this.