AI recently bought Duff's gumpaste because I was curious. When I opened it the gumpaste was hard as rock. I put it in the microwave and added a little crisco when kneading, It was really "tough" and hard to roll out. Is this normal or has it been sitting on the shelf too long?

AI think all of his products are sitting for too long. I bought his fondant a few years ago and it was ok and smelled exactly like a fresh batch of buttercream. I bought it again recently and it has an off flavor and smell and no matter how much sugar/corn starch you knead in, it's so sticky you almost can't use it. The lady working at michael's told me it is a common problem.

Sorry, but it's not a good idea to nuke gum paste.  It cooks it and it won't work correctly.  It's best to just break off a small chunk and knead in a tiny bit of crisco.  If it can be made soft this way, you can continue to do it until you have the amount you need.  If it doesn't work, then the whole thing is likely to be junk.

As for Duff's fondant, the only thing that you should be doing to it is nuking it at low power for a few seconds at a time until workable.  Nothing should be kneaded into it.  It can be rolled on CS or PS to prevent sticking.

Rae

AI didn't know about not nuking gumpaste, Thanks for the info. I'll try kneading in more crisco and see if that helps.

The last time I bought it it was actually sticky, nuked or not. I added to it because straight out of the package it was so sticky when kneaded that I couldn't pull my had away without it sticking all over my fingers, similar to how marshmallow fondant will stick when you make it. I was looking for a solution other than just throwing it across the room. LOL. 

I just tried Duff's fondant.  It was also very hard. The insructions on the package said to microwave on a very low setting for a few seconds.  It smelled and tasted very nice, but it stuck all over my mat and was a mess.  I think I will return the unopened package I still have if Michaels will let me.     

I LOVE Duff's black or brown fondant but not as a regular fondant.  Let me explain.  His fondant is actually half candy clay and half fondant.  All that candy clay makes it stiff as a board so it really does need to be microwaved on low for short bursts of time to make it plyable.  I keep a container of both black and dark brown on hand because those two colors are hard to achieve on our own.  Usually I only need a small amount of each and having it handy saves me a lot of swear words.