Silver
What it does
Silver decoration on confectionery.
How it's made
Metallic silver leaf.
Silver is used as a food colour to provide a metallic silver finish, almost entirely for decoration — the silver dragées and leaf used on cakes, chocolates and celebration confectionery. It provides shine rather than a dissolved colour.
Food-grade silver is made from pure metallic silver, which is beaten or rolled into extremely thin leaf, or produced as a fine powder or coating for silver dragées (the small silver balls used in decorating). The metal is refined to high purity before being formed into these decorative products.
Its use is restricted to the external decoration of certain confectionery and cake products, and only pure, food-grade silver is permitted. Because it is applied purely as a surface decoration in tiny quantities, it functions as an ornamental finish rather than a colour dispersed through the food.
Possible reactions
Generally inert in tiny amounts.