Preserving Nerds / Pop Rocks so they activate in the mouth and not in the food
I want to be able to use Nerds and/or Pop rocks in cooking. However, unless the food is ultra dry, the food itself activates / dissolves it; I want it activated in the mouth.
a) Is there a way to do this that does not involve coating them with something that must be bitten through, i.e. so that it is saliva activated but not activated by the other liquids (water, milk, oil, egg …) in the food?
E.g. to use them in ice cream, it'd be preferable not to require biting.
b) What can I coat them with that will not activated them but will preserve them for bitten activation? They're extremely reactive. (Water, oil…)
One plausible suggestion I've gotten so far and not yet tried is vegetable wax. Anything else?
c) How can I make a pop rock type sensation myself?
[ETA: instructables has a recipe for making poprocks per se, but it has the same issue. I'm wondering if there's something that'd work for mouthfeel but be less volatile during the cooking process for embedding in other things.]
Best Answer
Coat them in bee's wax or cocoa butter. You can actually buy them from MSK with the coating on.
You likely won't be able to make them yourself without a huge amount of equipment. As far as I'm aware, they require carbon-dioxide to be pumped in, as the sugar mixture cools. This is what makes them crackle, as the gas is released when the small pockets of air dissolve.
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How do you activate Pop Rocks?
When you put Pop Rocks in your mouth, your saliva dissolves the candy, allowing the pressurized carbon dioxide to escape. It's the popping of the pressurized bubbles that makes the sizzling sound and shoots pieces of candy around in your mouth.Why does pop rock candy explode in your mouth?
Tiny CO2 bubbles become trapped in the mixture, which makes the candy shatter when it hardens and the pressure is released. The release of trapped carbon dioxide trapped in the Pop Rocks is ultimately what causes them to pop and fizz when they're exposed to the heat and moisture in your mouth.Does rock candy pop in your mouth?
Same goes for thorough mixing, which would break down the candy and release the bubbles. I would try folding the pop rocks into butter cream frosting, or sprinkling on top. Hopefully the relatively low water content of the frosting will keep the pop rocks from dissolving before the cake is served.BABY VS. POP ROCKS (HILARIOUS REACTION)
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