sugar paste a mixture of icing sugar, water, and gum tragacanth made into a malleable paste. Glycerine, gelatin, and liquid glucose are sometimes added as well, for a more robust mixture. The paste can be rolled, shaped, coloured, and painted as the user’s imagination dictates, and then allowed to set and dry, giving edible ornaments that will keep indefinitely, provided they do not get damp. Paste-type mixtures are also used for making sweets, especially mints. Variations on sugar paste, more or less inedible, include starch or plaster of Paris amongst their ingredients, and are intended purely for decoration.
