Silver Leaf

All over India, the ultimately extravagant touch in finishing sweets or festive pulaos and biryanis is to lay sheets of beaten silver on top of them. This is pure silver beaten to flyaway fineness between leather pads. In India, it’s sold in bundles, each leaf separated from the other with tissue. Here, you can buy edible silver and gold leaf from framers and gilders. When you’re working with silver, stay out of any current of air—a fan, an open window, a heat register—or it will fly out of control. Silver is lovely; gold is even more festive. You may have to reassure guests unfamiliar with edible silver that it isn’t tinfoil and that it won’t damage their fillings.