Hi All. The L. A. Times reported yesterday on the ingredient list
for Wolfgang Puck’s Oscar-night dinner. One of the items was “30
pounds of edible gold powder”. Can this be? That would work out to
over $750,000, not including the effort needed to turn it into
edible powder. I mean, Hollywood’s crazy, but are they that far over
the top? That’s an expensive pile of celebrity poop!
Allan
30 pounds of edible gold powder
I’ve eaten gold, can’t really say much for it, meh 
CIA
The L. A. Times reported yesterday on the ingredient list for Wolfgang Puck's Oscar-night dinner. One of the items was "30 pounds of edible gold powder".
Can this be? That would work out to over $750,000, not including the
effort needed to turn it into edible powder. I mean, Hollywood’s
crazy, but are they that far over the top? That’s an expensive pile
of celebrity poop! Allan
Back in my youth, I had friend who was a Sikh. Dashing man -
reminded meof an even handsomer version of Omar Sharif, but I
digress…
He shared stories of Maharajas dining on delicacies entirely covered
in gold leaf.
Linda in central FL
as said elsewhere it is common in high end Indiam cuisine. Nomally a
thin sheet of gold is laid over a dish and it shimmers with the heat.
Sikver is sometimes used to the same effect. You know those little
silver or gold icing balls on cake? coated in precious metal (not Dr
Oetker brand though JUST THE POSH ONES YOU GET AT WEDDING CAKE
CUPPLIERS)
Nick royall
I've eaten gold, can't really say much for it, meh :-)
heard it tastes like chicken… :)> John
First edible gold powder is not 100% pure gold leaf, or particles.
there’s where your math may be a bit off- it generally contains corn
starch or other starches and sometimes dextrose or other simple
sugars that aren’t humectants (water attracting- i. e. honey powder
will absorb ambient humidity) and sometimes waxes if it’s shiny and
usually some edible silver also. A half oz. of edible gold powder
sold by the retail firm Wilton Co.(a cake and candy supplier) sells
for $3.99 So 30 lbs.(you do the math!).There are edible pure gold
powders, leaf, petals, etc that are 23 or 24Kt fine gold and run
around $120 a gram retail-You can be certain that Puck bought
whatever it was Wholesale and once you buy a quantity that is
affected by the spot market one gets a discount- 30Lbs. would
indicate a deep discount! I have for years used gold and silver leaf
on sweetmeats and other foodstuffs. I buy it at Indian groceries
where it is a fraction of the cost elsewhere. Silver leaf is about
$3.00 for a book of 50 leaves (larger sheets than the standard
gilder’s leaf in books) and the gold leaf is less than half the cost
of real gold gilding leaf sold in paint and woodworking/framing /art
supply stores in a 4x4" (approx.) size book.
On the other hand the budget for the event was phenomenal and I saw
some show on the tele that said the cost per person was around
$200.00 a plate x 1250 people (for the governor’s ball I
believe).Real gold powder, retails for about 120.00 a gram, but bet
that it was also a wholesale purchase! and some people put in special
menu requests far below the alotted amount. Some things were also
donated by manufacturers in exchange for their product being used : a
well known frequently used marketing tactic and write- off for the
companies supplying the product from their advertising budget!..rer