QHow important is a kitchen torch when working with isomalt? A kitchen torch is one of the essential tools if you work with isomalt or caramel, and in this article I’m going to show you what it’s used for and how to use it.
What is a kitchen torch used for with isomalt?
A kitchen torch has several uses when working with isomalt. It can be used to remove bubbles, join pieces together, or even clean decorations.
• To remove bubbles:
When working with the casting technique, we work with very liquid isomalt at high temperatures. While it’s inevitable that you’ll always see some bubbles, it’s essential that at each step of your decorating process you try to eliminate as many bubbles as possible. A kitchen torch is indispensable for this. Every time you pour or handle liquid isomalt, whether in a mold, on a mat, or on any surface, you should use a kitchen torch to remove as many bubbles as possible.
This applies during the decorating process, but after the isomalt decoration is finished, if you used silicone molds, you should also use a blowtorch. I explain this process in more detail in the article about using silicone molds, but I’ll summarize it here. Whenever you use silicone molds, there’s a reaction in the isomalt. The internal bubbles are attracted to the silicone walls, and when the decoration cools and you remove it from the mold, you’ll see a cloudiness. This cloudiness consists of microbubbles that you must eliminate with a kitchen torch.
• As glue:
Yes, it sounds strange, but it’s true. The kitchen torch is our tool for bonding because we glue pieces of isomalt together with heat, and in this case, with the heat from the torch flame. If we have several pieces of isomalt that we need to join, we have to heat them to create that bond. If we want to attach any other decoration, such as a royal icing decoration that we want to put on a lollipop, then you would heat the isomalt and attach the icing decoration.
• To clean the decorations:
When we make isomalt decorations, especially when they are modeled, artistic pieces that don’t necessarily have to be large, or simply isomalt decorations that we create by hand, often the handling itself dulls the piece, making it lose its shine. In this case, once we have it completely finished, and being very careful not to damage or melt our piece, we use a kitchen torch, and that shine returns. That’s why I say you clean it with the torch.
What type of torch can you use?
You can use any type of kitchen torch, whether it’s small or large. Small torches will be easier to handle than large ones, but you can use a large one without any problem. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you have a kitchen torch with a powerful flame and you need to join something very delicate or small, set it to the lowest setting and be very careful not to melt the decoration.
I hope you found this article helpful, and here’s a video for a better understanding:
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