My attention was recently directed to a batch of recipes listed on Altoids’ website. My fellow crafters are looking for ways to quickly use up Altoids so that they can use the nifty little tins for craft projects.
What can you do with Altoid tins? Check out these extremely cool projects:
- Make external battery packs for your iPod.
- Heck, you can even make speakers for your iPod with your empty Altoid tins, and playing cards.
- Make pinhole cameras.
- And of course you can make little relics and art pieces.
A guilty memory resurfaced while contemplating the use of Altoids in recipes. I admit, shamefully that I don’t always have fresh ginger in my kitchen. In a moment of stir-fry desperation (I know? I know, not even a dessert recipe) I used crushed ginger Altoids in place of fresh or even dry ginger. I think it worked rather well and my Folgers Challenge was never discovered.
Altoids.com lists several cute ideas to add crushed Altoids to food:
- Making chocolate bark with the addition of peppermint or cinnamon Altoids.
- Using crushed Sours and Altoids to rim drink glasses and flavor all sorts of drinks from hot apple cider to martinis and mojitos.
- Adding ginger Altoids to the sugar coating mixture for making glazed nuts.
- Flavoring chocolate truffles.
- Dusting cake frosting with the crushed candies.
- Stiring the crushed candies into whipped cream and ice cream.
Finding more recipes utilizing altoids has been surprisingly slow going. There is a worried mention about the emergence of a new class of “discomfort food,” whose leading example uses Altoids.
There are signs of an emerging trend that The Wall Street Journal calls the ugly trend: articles of clothing that deliberately clash, hairy faux-fur chairs. In cuisine, we’re seeing the emergence of “discomfort food,” such as sea urchins sprinkled with crushed Altoids.
www.saatchikevin.com/workingit/myra_stark_report2001.html
Using Altoids and Sours as recipe additives is a cute flavor gimmick worthy of a Kraft Recipe, (which isn’t all that surprising given that Kraft owns Altoids), but I think I’ll still take the good ole’ original flavorings over Altoid pucks anyday.
7 Comments
I’m sorry, but I have nowhere else to cry.
Santa Fe Burrito is closed, my sole bastion against franchised fast food.
I’m done, thank you..
Oh no! Now I’m going to feel guilty because I haven’t been there in soooo long. That’s too bad- I thought they had a good geographic region given that there wasn’t too much other burrito stuff going on close by to them (well, Burrito Amigos at 24th and Will). I liked how Santa Fe had a more distinct set of menu options than the whole Burrito Boy/Burrito Amigos entity-borg.
Campus area has some nice non-franchished (I think?) spots: the burrito place at the corner of Taylors, Shanti (new Indian place), Sakura, Pato Verde (ate their tacos yesterday!), Caspians, Cafe Sienna (ohh, drool?), Maple Garden, and Holy Cow inside the EMU. Though they don’t have the decor that Santa Fe had- the taken over Taco Bell look, which was awefully endearing.
I wonder what will happen with the spot?
I once used those violet pastilles, crushed up and melted in boiling water with sugar, to make a base for violet sorbet. Then I finely chopped the handful of violets I had as a flecky purple visual to convince people they were tasting violet flowers.
It worked. People were amazed. Don’t tell anyone!
Oh, what a nice idea! They have Rose flavored ones too? My Granny is the one who introduced me to Altoids as a kid. She also indulged in these violet pastilles too, so in my mind they go hand in hand with Altoids!
? McAuliflower
this is so weird. do people actually leave comments on this thing. Wow, adults need to get a life. FOR REAL.
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Speaking of getting a life? too funny!
?McAuliflower
Last Halloween I made these Altoids peppermint fudge brownies and they came out very well indeed. Next time I think I might up the amount of crushed mints by 25% or so. There’s a picture on one of my blogs.
Well I thought I’d heard it all. I make pocket shrines out of Altoids tins. My youngest son told me about cooking with Altoids but I didn’t believe him.
I stand corrected.
Altoids are candy. Like any candy, they can be crushed, melted or used whole for any recipe calling for hard candy. Use them to edge cookie slices, toss them in crispy rice cereal treats, use them as pavers around your gingerbread houses!
