ISOMALT

GP101 Assorted Gem Set 1:  3/4 x 1 1/4 x 1/4 $21.00

GP102 Assorted Gem Set 2:  1/8 x 3/4 x 1/8 $14.00

GP103 Assorted Gem Set 3:  1/8 x 3/4 x 1/8 $16.00

ISOMALT is produced by an enzymatic rearrangement of sucrose in two stages. It is an odorless, white crystalline and low hygroscopic substance.
ISOMALT can be used for pulling or blowing. It does not quite have the same elasticity as sugar, however it is ideal for re-heating in a microwave.

Required:
• Isomalt (FISO)
• Microwave
• Glass/Pyrex Bowl or Measuring Cup

Method:
• Combine a ½ cup Isomalt with 2 tablespoons of white corn syrup in a glass measuring cup.
• If a colour gem is required add a small amount of the desired colour to the isomalt corn syrup mixture with a toothpick.
• Place the cup in the microwave, cook on high for 20 seconds, remove and stir.
• Return the cup to the microwave, cook on high for 20 seconds, remove and stir.
• Repeat the above step as many as 6 times. The mixture must be Clear, Completely Melted, and Mixed together. N.B. The mixture will be extremely hot so use caution!!! Tap down on the counter to help remove any air bubbles.
• Pour the molten mixture into the desired shape molds.
• To give the gem a little more sparkle, sprinkle on your required disco colour.
• Allow to set.
• Remove from mold.

Old pieces made with ISOMALT can be recycled: Break old show pieces into small pieces, microwave until entirely melted, then pour on non-stick rolling mat and start all over again.

Please note if disco dust was used on the backing when the isomalt has been melted the disco dust will mix into the isomalt making it no longer crystal clear.

These are some of the molds that you could use to make edible Isomalt jewels:
Available here for purchase

Handy Hints
When stirring the isomalt in the jar, I use a sucker stick that I leave in the jar, when it is cooked I just have to throw away the used sucker stick. No washing up a spoon ever.  Geraldine

Instructions:
Spray mold w/Pam, wipe off excess
RECIPE
Boil 1 kilogram of Isomalt (1 killogram = 2.20462262 pounds)
with 2 cups water
Add Color/flavor
1/2 teaspoon extract, or consentrated oil flvoring, optional
Pour Isomalt mixture into mold.
Heat in Microwave a few seconds.
Let set up and unmold jewel.

OR COOKED BELOW:
Boil to 165C (approx 320deg.F) Using Candy Thermometer
Pour into heat resistant molds or pour into shapes on teflon non-stick mat.
Add paste color when heat reduces to 140C granular form.
METHOD
With cooking spray, coat hard candy jewel molds and a funnel with a stopper if using a mold with large jewel cavities.
Wipe out excess cooking spray with a paper towel.
Set sprayed molds on a baking sheet or a surface that withstands heat. For small cavities, use a toothpick or sucker stick to fill. If using a funnel, set the funnel with the stopper covering the hole, in a large measuring cup or any container which will hold the funnel level. Pour the hot syrup into the funnel. Fill each cavity by lifting the stopper just enough to allow the syrup to fill each mold cavity, then quickly cover the opening in the funnel with the stopper to stop the sugar flow. When jewels cool, invert each mold, letting jewels fall from mold onto parchment paper or a silicone mat which is on a soft surface such as a folded towel.

The impurities are not harmful for consumption, but by removing the foam, the resulting syrup will have more clarity and strength.
When crystals are washed from the side and syrup appears clear, place thermometer in pan, and cook to 250 degrees.
Add food coloring if desired, when cool enough. Continue cooking on medium heat to 340 degrees. Immediately remove pan from stove and plunge into cold water for a few seconds to stop the cooking. Gently stir in flavor. Cover for two minutes to be sure the flavor is infused into the syrup. The resulting syrup is ready to pour into molds, or poured into puddles on parchment paper or a silicone mat to cool. Store the puddles in locking bags, storing flat without pieces in each bag touching each other. Better yet, vacuum seal the pieces in bags. Place bags in airtight containers with silica gel. If wanting to cast (mold) the hardened pieces of isomalt, place isomalt in a microwave-safe container and microwave at 5 second intervals until a liquid state. The resulting syrup is ready to mold into jewels (follow instructions above for casting jewels).

BURNING HOT MIXTURE!!!
Using a tooth pick stir the mixture to get the air bubbles out.
Pour into the molds, This is a little tricky, I used a knife to pour the isomalt mixture into the molds.
If Isomalt gets cold on you..just put in the microwave again for couple of seconds.
Let sit and harden.

Other Ideas for Isomalt Candy
Silicone Pearls
Isomalt Transfers

Painting jewel tones: Jewels come in many colors, so almost any color Luster Dust will work.
USING LEMON OIL: If jewels are already on the cake or will not be disturbed after they are painted, mix a little lemon oil with chosen color luster dust and paint jewels with a soft brush.
The jewels may need to be touched up if not handled carefully as the lemon oil may remain tacky. USING CONFECTIONERS GLAZE: If making jewels ahead of time to be used months later, mix luster dust with confectioners glaze and paint jewels with a soft brush. The finish will dry and the color won’t come off.

How Isomalt is Made
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The two-step process begins with sucrose. First, an enzyme rearranges the linkage between glucose and fructose in sucrose. In the second step, two hydrogen's are added to an oxygen in the fructose portion of the disaccharide. Approximately half of the fructose portion of the original disaccharide is converted to mannitol and about half of the fructose portion of the original disaccharide is converted to sorbitol. Therefore, isomalt contains two different disaccharide alcohol's: gluco-mannitol and gluco-sorbitol.
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The molecular changes that occur in these steps make isomalt more stable - chemically and enzymatically - than sucrose. Isomalt’s stability is the reason for many of its health benefits and the large variety of products which it can improve.

How Isomalt is Used
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Besides the characteristics that result from isomalt’s volume and texture, isomalt can be heated without losing its sweetness or being broken down. Therefore, it is predominantly used in products that are boiled, baked or subjected to higher temperatures.
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Isomalt absorbs very little water. Therefore, products made with it tend not to become sticky. This means that candies, for example, can be put into a packet without each being wrapped separately, a convenient and appealing attribute for environmentally conscious consumers. Another advantage, resulting from this property is that, since the products do not absorb moisture, they have a longer shelf life.
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Isomalt enhances flavor transfer in foods. It dissolves more slowly in the mouth so that candies with isomalt have a longer lasting taste . Isomalt does not have the often undesired “cooling” effect of some other polyols. Its sensory properties make isomalt an excellent ingredient for candies, chocolates, baked products and flavored applications such as fruit flavored candy, coffee and chocolate.
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Isomalt’s sweetening power depends on its concentration, temperature and the form of the product in which it is used. When used alone, it contributes 45% to 65% of the sweetness that would result from the same amount of sucrose.

Multiple Ingredient Usage
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Isomalt is often used in combination with intense sweeteners. Isomalt gives products bulk, texture and mild sweetness, while the intense sweetener brings the level of sweetness up to what it would be if sugar were used. An additional advantage of such combined usage is that isomalt tends to mask the bitter aftertaste of some intense sweeteners. Synergistic effects in sweetening power occur when isomalt is combined with either intense sweeteners or other volume providing sweeteners.

How the Body Uses Isomalt
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Isomalt, like all polyols, is a low digestible carbohydrate which is only partially digested in the intestines. In the lower part of the intestinal tract, the non-absorbed portion is metabolized by colonic bacteria.
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Isomalt’s physiological characteristics are a result of this process: Isomalt does not promote tooth decay, has a very low blood glucose effect (low glycemic response), has an effect like dietary fiber in the gut and has only half of the caloric value of sucrose.

In more detail:
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Benefits
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Lower Caloric Value: For food labeling purposes in the United States, an energy value of only 2 calories per gram is used for isomalt. Isomalt's lower caloric value is partly due to the fact that intestinal enzymes are not able to easily hydrolyze its more stable disaccharide bond. Less of it is digested and, therefore, less absorbed from the small intestine into the blood, and this happens slowly.
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Supports Gut Health: Daily intake of 30 g isomalt was demonstrated to promote an increase of the “good” bacteria in the large intestine, the bifidobacteria, demonstrating the prebiotic effect of isomalt. The water-binding property of isomalt may influence the structure of the content of the gut, making it softer. If the consistency of the feces is too soft, it can be regulated by cutting down intake and allowing some time for adaptation. Like dietary fibers, isomalt is broken down by the gut bacteria to so called short chain fatty acids (SCFA) and gases. SCFA have the advantage of decreasing acidity in the large intestine and some SCFA are discussed as being beneficial for a healthy epithelium in the large intestine.
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Less Dental Caries Risk: Isomalt is anti-cariogenic and does not promote dental caries, because oral bacteria cannot readily convert it into decay causing acids. Therefore, the acidic conditions that lead to tooth demineralization do not develop after consuming isomalt, as occurs after eating sugar and other fermentable carbohydrates. Furthermore, isomalt cannot be converted by oral bacteria into polyglucan, the substance from which dental plaque is synthesized.
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Isomalt can help repair early dental caries lesions. Its sweet taste stimulates the production of saliva, thus reducing acidity and increasing calcium levels on the tooth surface. These changes facilitate remineralization of areas previously damaged by acidic conditions in the mouth due to fermentable carbohydrate consumption.
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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allows manufacturers of sugar-free isomalt-containing products to make the health claim, “Does not promote dental caries,” if those products do not reduce plaque pH to less than 5.7 during or for up to 30 minutes after consumption.
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Very low blood glucose and insulin response: Due to the metabolism described above, isomalt hardly influences blood glucose or insulin after intake as demonstrated in a number of studies, thus isomalt is very low glycemic. Isomalt is an ingredient, a useful tool within the total diet, that can contribute to providing low glycemic products to consumers interested in this health benefit. In particular those consumers are addressed that are interested in a healthy lifestyle (management and prevention of obesity, diabetes etc., being on a ‘low carb diet’). There is a growing body of evidence that shows that a low glycemic diet can help in the management and prevention of obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

Isomalt
is made from sugar
is used in a variety of foods, nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals
provides the taste and texture of sugar
is synergistic with other sweeteners
provides at most 2 calories per gram
does not promote dental caries
does not increase blood glucose or insulin levels
Regulatory Status
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A petition to affirm the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) status of isomalt has been accepted for filing by the FDA. Isomalt has been used in the United States since 1990. It is marketed in the U.S. by Palatinit of America, Inc. and Cargill Inc.
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The World Health Organization’s Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) evaluated the safety of isomalt and concluded that there is no need for a numeric (limited) acceptable daily intake (ADI). JECFA established an ADI for isomalt of “not specified,” the safest category in which JECFA can place a food ingredient.

Isomalt sugar is used to make clear sugar gems, because it doesn't crystallize like regular sugar meaning it doesn't turn yellow/brown like normal sugar would. When using Isomalt Sugar you need to make sugar syrup first and then this syrup can be used to make gems.When making your own sugar syrup using Isomalt I suggest following the recipe below. It asks for 2 cups of isomalt sugar. I assume you could also deposit left over sugar syrup into small silicone cupcake cups and let it harden and save it for later use and once you need to make gems you could treat it as isomalt pearls and use microwave to melt it.I have not done this but I think it is possible.

I found using isomalt pearls really easy and fast,the mold I used had cavities of few milliters. To fill the mold that I used, you can see the picture above in the post I needed about 6-7 Isomalt pearls.

USE JEWELS ON YOUR CAKES TOO! Picture - the flowers are made of gumpaste (even the ribbons & ties!). The cake ruffle and icing is rolled fondant

Cake shows a use of jewels Bow is fondant brushed with pearl dust. Dragees surround the jewel. Or use fondant balls and highlighter dust for silver. IDEA... JEWELS  Basic Instructions: Isomalt  & water melted. Spray mold w/ Pam wipe off excess. Add edible glitter, dump excess. Cook, add Color/flavor. Pour Isomalt mixture into Hard Candy Molds, heat in Microwave a few seconds. Let set up and unmold jewel. . How-To Instructions and Information below Molds you might use: Round 1" 8H-5047, Fancy Assorted 1" 8H-5116, Rectangles 1" 8H-5656, Card Diamond 1" 8H-13412.

Recipe-Jewels (more below): Boil 1 kilogram of Isomalt  (1 kilogram = 2.20462262 pounds) with 2 cups water Boil to 165C (approx. 320 deg.F) Pour into heat resistant molds  or pour into shapes on teflon  non-stick mat. Add paste color when heat  reduces to 140C BURNING HOT MIXTURE!!! Using a tooth pick stir the  mixture to get the air bubbles out. Pour into the molds, This is a  little tricky, I used a knife to  pour the isomalt mixture into the molds.  If Isomalt gets cold on you..just  put in the microwave again for  couple of seconds. Let sit and harden. Picture of cake and jewels

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