I was left in charge of a bag of Maltesers on a warm day recently.
Some of chocolate layers on these had melted just enough to allow them to join with their fellows in a rather beautiful, molecule-like arrangement, which solidified when the temperature later fell. The honeycomb centres were strong enough to form a ‘backbone’ structure welded together with chocolate.
Today’s invention is a tool to allow people to make their own edible images (in a similar way to Hama beads which can be joined by melting together with an iron).
This consists of a plastic sheet with small holes forming a hexagonal lattice. Maltesers can be located on the holes, forming a pattern. A second sheet with holes is placed on top and the sheets are then clipped together so as to hold the pattern in place (Place a transparent, lower sheet on a laptop screen displaying a binary representation of eg a loved-one’s face and this would allow the required layout to be specified).
Warm air from a hairdryer is then blown between the sheets so that the Maltesers become joined. The resulting shape can then be withdrawn and placed in eg a gift box or in a resealable bag before eating.
It would also be possible to extend this from a base layer into a 3-D sculpture.
