10.03.08
Melting point
FIGURATIVELY SPEAKING FRIDAY
One of my favorite topics: CANDY.
I only mention it because of a word that found its way into a commentary I just finished: fondant.
Mmmmm … just makes your mouth water to hear the word.
No? OK, it’s a frou-frou word that may not be the first thing you think of when you lust for sweets.
For those of you who know fondant … then, enough said. Fondant is a mixture of sugar and water, that’s often used in cake decorating. It’s also the term for small candies of a similar composition.
Here’s where the mouth-watering starts. Making fondant candy is a very painstaking labor, requiring careful measuring, mixing, heating and working the paste to just the right texture. No cutting corners here.
All of that hard labor pays off with a dense ratio of sugar to water, so the delicious amalgam is neither liquid nor solid — but something marvelously in-between.
It can be rolled and draped in melt-away sheets over cakes, or formed into small balls for candy dishes.
Though you may not know the word, you’d probably recognize fondant if you tasted it. Fondant can be found in chocolate bonbons — it’s the yummy creme inside flavored orange, cherry or maple.
Like so many cooking terms, fondant comes from the French word fondre, “to melt.” Literally, the word fondant means “melting” — it is the present participle of fondre.
So when you reach for that irresistible morsel that seems to wither as soon as you touch it, you’ve probably got your hands on authentic fondant. Now go ahead and eat it before it melts away into nothingness!
Image is from Pink Cake Box and the orange ribbon on the middle layer is fondant.
