Turn Your Next Cocktail Into A Work Of Art With Edible Paint
You've tried garnishing your drink glasses with spears of sliced fruit and have set out DIY garnish platters for guests to decorate their own cocktails at your house parties. Now, get ready to bring a touch of artistic flair to your next beverage concoctions — with swashes of edible paint. And, no, you don't need any particular artistic talents to create stunning, colorful presentations.
Edible paint is no longer reserved for decorating cakes and cupcakes. When carefully placed, different hues of color can brighten glasses and bring unique appeal to the beverages you serve. Whether you're pouring highball cocktails or filling shorter glasses with old-fashioned cocktails, colorful paint applications can be adjusted to suit both glassware and the drink recipes you're assembling. Streaks of blue or red can add a surprising visual appeal to traditionally transparent gin and tonic drinks, and darker spirits can take on a mysterious aesthetic when seen through purple or orange swashes of paint.
For maximum control of the paint application, use a brush to sweep the color of your choosing along the inside of your glass or across the rim's surface. Drips and splashes can also create unique effects along your glass if you don't have a paintbrush on hand. Edible paint dries fairly quickly, allowing you to fill the painted glass with the drink of your choosing without much hesitation.
How to make and use edible paint in your drinks
If you can't find edible paint at the store or have a specific color in mind for your cocktail designs, you can make your own edible paint at home fairly easily. For a boozy paint recipe, mix a quarter cup of vodka with equal amounts of corn syrup. Then, add in your food coloring of choice and adjust the hue according to the intensity and vibrancy you'd like your paint to have. Consider combining primary colors like red, blue, and yellow to build unique shades that can complement the flavors you'll be using in your cocktails or include edible sparkles or gold dust to create more of a luster for the paint. If you're preparing to serve alcohol-free drinks to guests, edible paint can be made with lemon juice instead of vodka, and you can decorate your glasses with swipes of boozeless color. When it comes to making edible paint, you have a world to explore, as edible paint can also be made from beetroot juice and pectin if you're looking for a darker-hued purple accent for your drinks.
While you can paint a brush stroke on the inside of your glass before adding ice and pouring in your mixed drink, you also able to swipe colors across the surface of ice cubes to create aesthetic coherence in your glass. Regardless of your artistic choices, edible paint is a versatile, interesting ingredient that will surely to impress your friends when used in your next cocktails.