Fine Gum Paste
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the gum
Scrape off any spots from the gum with a knife.
Wash the gum in a pan with water twice.
Add fresh water to the gum, covering it by 1 to 2 inches, and let it stand for 24 hours.
Crush the gum with a spatula and strain it through a cloth.
Make the paste
Pound the strained gum in a mortar, adding powdered sugar a little at a time until the paste is white.
Test the paste: when it breaks when pulled, it is done.
Store it in a pot covered with a wet cloth.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Gum dragon
- Forms the paste's body and elasticity once softened and pounded.
- Extremely fine powdered sugar
- Whitens the paste and adds sweetness while stiffening it as it is pounded in.
The step that matters
Testing the paste by pulling it. Gum paste must be pounded until it breaks cleanly when pulled. Too little working leaves it sticky and weak, while the sugar added during pounding is what firms it for shaping.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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