Can they really be eaten?

Would you buy some chocolates decorated with gold dust? Some people would do it without hesitation at all, especially because luxury and exclusivity that it contributes to the foods in which it is used: chocolates, drinks, etc. However, other people would not buy these foods at all, among other things because it would seem like a waste and frivolity.

In both cases, we may wonder where this fashion comes from, What characteristics does that gold have? and the implications that its consumption can have on health, so let’s see.

It may seem to us that the use of gold as an ingredient in food is something recent, but this is not the case. In fact, it has been used in food since ancient times. From Ancient Egypt to Indian cuisinepassing through the nobility of the Middle Ages. Historically, this precious metal has been a status symbol and has been associated in different cultures with different beliefs, such as immortality or purity.

To get an idea of ​​how normalized the use of this metal in food is, we can see that it is even included in food legislationwhere it is included in the list of additives, classified with the code E-175. This means that its use has been studied and is regulated so that it does not pose a health risk.

The gold that is used as an ingredient in food must have a specific peculiarities. That is, not just anyone will do. The first and most important thing is that it does not contain foreign substances that could be a threat to health, so certain measures must be taken to guarantee its safety; both in terms of its composition and its processing. For example, pure gold or an alloy of gold (90%) and silver (10%) is used. In addition, the lubricants used in the machinery used to laminate it must be food-grade.

To make edible gold, the first thing you do is melt nuggets of this metal at about 1,200 ºCand then pour it into a mold and thus form an ingot. Subsequently, this is passed through rollers to obtain thin sheets that are later subjected to a beating process. The beating basically consists of beating those gold sheets for about two hours, until achieving extremely thin sheets. To give us an idea, the thickness is around 0.000125 mm. This is what is generally known as gold leaf and which has been traditionally used to decorate different artistic objects, such as sculptures, altarpieces, frames, etc.

As we can imagine, the extremely thin thickness of these sheets makes them very delicate and very difficult to manipulate, so it is important to have a lot of dexterity to perform this task. Finally, all that remains is to separate and cut those sheets to give them the desired shape, whether powder, sheets or flakes, which will be used as an ingredient in different foods.

Gold is not metabolized by our body, so it does not pose a health risk.

This also implies that eating this precious metal It does not imply any nutritional contribution; That is, it does not provide calories or any other nutrients. In fact, we expel it with our feces, just as we ingest it. So eating gold is, in this regard, a complete waste. In short, its use only has one ornamental utility: It is only useful to decorate food and dress it luxuriously.