A long time ago I saw an idea for painting popcorn on Living Locurto. They used a milk and food coloring paint, which is technically an edible paint, but I wanted to paint popcorn with something that would leave the POPCORN edible. Not JUST edible though, DELICIOUS!
So we used
ROYAL ICING
to paint our popcorn
I've always used powdered egg whites to make our royal icing.
This is the basic recipe for Royal Icing
3 tablespoons of egg white powder (also called Meringue Powder)
-4 cups powdered sugar
-6 tablespoons of water.
-A few drops of food coloring.
I can't remember the exact amount, but I thinned it up a bit with extra water. Just enough so that it wasn't so thick that he couldn't paint with it.
**Though I haven't tried this, if you may be worried about the egg whites in the recipe, as an alternative I'm pretty sure you could try melting regular store bought icing to use. It may harden faster, but i'm sure you could have some fun with it before it did! **
He painted the popcorn a few different ways...
with a paintbrush and I also gave him a dropper to drizzle on the "paint"
When he was done with his little pile, it looked like this. Beautiful! It also smelled delicious!
We took a few bites as it was, but it still needed to "dry"
After he was done painting, I made another batch of popcorn.
We did ours on the stove, the "old fashioned" way.It's so fun to watch it pop like this!
and then I used what was left of our Royal Icing Paint to drizzle on the rest of the popcorn.
We let it dry for a few hours before digging in. The popcorn didn't stay AS crunchy as I had hoped, but it was still yummy and the kids did NOT care how crunchy it was. They cobbled this down!
It was a bit addicting I must say..and so pretty too!
The colors made me think of Easter, so we may try this again in April, but there are all sorts of fun colors you could try this with and adapt it for lots of holidays!
Here are some other fun things we've done with popcorn...
.jpg)
More Ways to Follow the Fun!
I cannot believe you all had a popcorn fight!! How long did that take you to clean up? I am sure the kids loved it and I think it sounds like great fun, but I don't know that I could do it :)
ReplyDeleteMy mouth is watering right now even as I think about all the sticky fingers to clean up afterwards. That popcorn fight looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteReaders could also dye their "paint" with natural food coloring. A few drops of beet juice doesn't affect flavor but also doesn't cause the hyperactivity, emotional issues or migraines that food coloring can cause for children (and adults). The FDA estimates that about 5% of children react negatively (typically with ADHD type behaviors) to food coloring, but it's so pervasive in their food, toothpastes, medicines, etc. that many families probably have no idea that it's at the root of issues. Many experts believe the number is actually much higher. It's also just no good for anybody, since it's made from petroleum and chemicals, and has been linked to health problems. Concentrated fruit juice, smashed strawberries and turmeric also make pretty colors. :)
ReplyDeletethanks for the idea...I was wondering about a better alternative.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that yesterday, I tried food coloring for the first time in the am and in the pm with activities for my son.
He threw up all night and morning and was acting out really badly yesterday as well. he even threw my phone into the lake, which was odd behavior to me, since I know he loves the phone to watch his photos and videos taken.
Ill be doing more research on food coloring.
You can actually buy natural food colorings at health food stores as well. Red and yellows work well but it is difficult to get a natural blue or green very dark. Whole Foods is where I found mine.
ReplyDelete