Latest / The Monégasque Table / Halloween Edible Glitter Colors: Orange, Purple, and Black
Transcript
- Dana: Ask the Table week — and this one arrived with a deadline attached. A listener wrote in: "First year I'm baking for Halloween instead of buying. What are the best edible glitter colors for it? I've got 1 shopping trip left." Signed, "running out of October." Margaux: Welcome to The Monégasque Table. Short episode, one question, and here's the answer up front. Orange, purple, and black. That's the Halloween palette — add green if you want a fourth for the slime-and-monster bakes. And that's not a taste opinion. It's what fall shopping carts actually do, and with the big night only a few weekends out, the carts are already moving. Dana: Carts don't do things. Explain. Margaux: Ours do, every year. Heading into fall, orange orders roughly quadruple. And the shades that ride along in the same carts? Purple, black, and green — the same trio, season after season. The carts even confess what they're baking: pumpkin molds and skull cake pans show up in the very same orders. Dana: Okay, that's weirdly charming. But let me swing, because black glitter on food sounds like a goth mistake. Doesn't dark shimmer just vanish? Margaux: On dark chocolate frosting? Completely. Dark on dark is decorating for no one. Black earns its jar on contrast — a spider-web design over white buttercream, a black shimmer rim on a pale drink. And reviewers across this category keep landing on the same rule: it works best with clear drinks. A pinch of black in a clear sparkling lemonade reads as full witch's potion. Dana: Fine, contrast noted. Now the wallet swing. Three jars at about $15 each, for one single night of the year? That's a decoration tax. Margaux: And that's the round you win — partly. Nobody needs the whole palette on trip 1. One jar of orange reads Halloween all by itself; that's the anchor. But here's the part that softens the math. The serving is 0.1 grams a drink. A 10 gram jar pours about 100 servings, and a 15 gram jar runs about 150. Your orange doesn't retire on November 1 — it's fall baking, a birthday cake in spring, next year's party. The costume gets worn once. The jar doesn't. Dana: So buy in order, not in bulk. What's the order? Margaux: Orange first — the anchor. Black second, for the web cakes and the potion rims. Purple third; that's the witchy drink color. Green last, and only if slime cupcakes or monster bark made your menu. Then picture the finish line — porch light on, doorbell going, a kid in a vampire cape licking orange shimmer off a cupcake. That's the whole job these jars have. Dana: And the honest bit — who should skip this aisle entirely? Margaux: Two people. If your Halloween is a candy bowl and a doorbell, skip it — the wrappers already sparkle. And if you're decorating things nobody eats — foam pumpkins, a wreath, a display window — buy craft glitter instead. It's cheaper, and nobody's biting a wreath. Edible pricing is for food that gets eaten. Dana: (laughs) "Nobody's biting a wreath" is going on my fridge. Okay, recap for the listener with 1 trip left: orange, purple, black — green if you're feeling monstery. Start with orange if it's 1 jar. Black wants a light background. And the jar keeps working long after the costumes hit the bin. Margaux: That's the answer. One footnote before you go — if you want the exact shades, the MONÉGASQUE fall palette is on Amazon: Orange Beach, Lavender Fields, and Midnight Black in the 10 gram drink glitter jars, plus Orange, Purple, and Black in the 15 gram luster dust line. And you won't be shopping alone — search interest for edible glitter in late October runs well above its quiet spring baseline. The season sneaks up. Dana: Which tees up next week, because you've sold me the colors — now what do I do with them? How do you use edible glitter for Halloween baking? Margaux: Wet or dry, before or after the oven — that's next time. This show is made with AI-crafted hosts and human-checked facts. See you at the table.