Hair You Can Devour
Having hair on the brain constantly i could help myself when while cooking I came across this little number… Edible Hair!!!
I decided to share this quirky recipe with you for that random time you may just need some edible hair for a change!
Recipe:
Here’s what you’ll need
corn syrup (about 150ml)
corn starch
a small round bowl (if glass, then spray baking release or a little oil)
a large bowl or tray
a small pot
a candy thermometer
dye (optional)
Possible substitutions:
Instead of corn syrup, you can use sugar and water, although when you cook the syrup, you’ll have to take extra special care to make sure all of the sugar crystals completely melt. You can also use honey or maltose syrup, too. (Corn syrup’s the cheapest, of course)
Instead of corn starch, you can use rice starch or toasted rice flour (what’s traditionally used in Asia), or, if you want your resulting hair to be brown, maybe cocoa powder. As long as what you’re using is dry, not sticky, and completely pulverized (i.e. a true powder), then it should work fine.
Cooking the corn syrup.
Cooking the corn syrup.
Two pucks cooling down.
Two pucks cooling down.
Stretching the strands…
Stretching the strands…
Important tips
Try to keep the thickness of the strands as even as possible, especially at the beginning. Any irregularity will get amplified with each twist-and-fold pass you make.
Be sure to dip the candy in corn starch with each pass. If you don’t, the strands will stick to each other when you stretch them out and it is impossible to separate them.
Keep the resulting hair as dry as possible. If topping on a cupcake, consider using a buttercream frosting instead of a ganache, since it has less moisture. It’s not as fragile as cotton candy (candy floss) in the presence of moisture, but it will eventually get sticky.
Directions
Put the corn syrup in a small pot and begin heating it up on the stove. If you want to dye your hair, now is the time to mix some food-safe dye into your corn syrup. (I’ve done this with red-dye and it worked terrifically).
Boil the corn syrup until the temperature reaches about 260-265 F (128-130 C).
Turn off the heat. The temperature might rise to 270 F (132 C) on its own, but that’s OK.
Let it cool down until for the bubbles to subside.
Fill the large bowl with about a cup of corn starch. Alternatively, put it in a mound on a lipped baking sheet.
Pour the reduced syrup (molten sugar) into the round container. Allow to cool to room temperature.
Push/pull the puck out of the container.
Poke a hole in the center. If the puck is really hard, use a sharp object like a chopstick. If it’s really hard, soften it in the microwave for about 3 seconds. (Don’t let it soften more than what’s necessary to poke a hole in the center)
Using your hands, work the puck into a donut (torus) shape. Try to make it the same width around. You can pull gently (don’t tug) to thin out the “rope.”
Twist the torus into a figure-8 and then fold the two halves into a double-roped circle.
Dip the double-circle into the corn starch, making sure all of the surfaces are coated and no bare sugar is showing.
Using your hands again, and by gently pulling, segment by segment, stretch the small double-circle into a large double-circle.
Twist-and-fold (step #9) again, dip in corn starch (#10) again, and pull and stretch (#11) again.
Repeat this process for a total of 12 total times. You’ll find that, while it requires some effort, it’s not impossible. Keep on making sure that the “rope” is the same thickness all the way around before twisting & folding.
When you’re finally done, you can pull at one point to break the circle into one large “pelt.” You can also shake it to get rid of any excess corn starch. The hair will not start to stick unless you’re in a humid environment.
If you want to have shorter segments of the hair, pull them off the main pelt, do not cut with scissors or a knife. That will cause the the strands to fuse together
http://livelonger.hubpages.com/video/Edible-Hair-Recipe-Directions#
