Fancy Sprinkles 101: The Encyclopedia Of Sprinkles
WRITTEN BY FANCY SPRINKLES®
We’ve received so many questions about sprinkles over the years, we decided to give an in depth review of each type of sprinkle out there, as well as the best ways to use them!
JIMMIES
AKA sugar strands, rainbow sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles
These are the sprinkles that nearly everyone is familiar with, and immediately associate with the word “sprinkles.” These sprinkles come in endless colors. Some people love them, some people don’t. The people that don’t have never tried our Fancy Sprinkles Crunchy Jimmies™. If you’re never heard of Crunchy Jimmies™, it’s because it’s a relatively new term we came up with to describe the crispiness of our jimmies. Standard grocery store or ice cream shop sprinkles are made with less superior ingredients, and can be mushy and flavorless. Crunchy Jimmies™ are sweet, crispy, and clean tasting. We also have custom Pantone colors you won’t find anywhere else. Our Crunchy Jimmies™ are bar none in the sprinkle world.
Fancy Sprinkles Recommends:
Put Crunchy Jimmies™ on everything from ice cream, to buttered toast, cupcakes, inside cake batter or on top. These can be baked onto cookies at a lower temp setting.
CONFETTI SPRINKLES
AKA Sprinkle shapes, quins or sequins
Doesn’t confetti sound like a total party? These come in a variety of shapes like stars, hearts, or rounds. Some confetti sprinkles can be “blobby”, meaning the shape isn’t defined. We don’t play that game here at Fancy Sprinkles. We only use the best, laser cut shapes for ultimate definition. There’s nothing more sad to us than looking at a sprinkle shape and not being able to decipher that it is.
Put confetti sprinkles on cupcakes, the sides of cakes, or mix them in with other sprinkles to create dimension.
NONPAREILS
"Caviar”
Next to jimmies, nonpareils are probably considered the other “classic” sprinkle. These tiny little dots are crunchy and sweet. They can look elegant or fun. They come in many different colors as well. Fancy Sprinkles® does sell nonpareil blends, many in custom Pantone colors! We even have pastel nonpareils. These are also called “hundreds and thousands” in many European countries, as well as Australia. If you’re looking for a dainty sprinkle, nonpareils, or “caviar” as we like to call them, are definitely for you!
DRAGEÉS
"Drah-Jays”
Perhaps the sprinkle that receives the MOST attention is the notorious drageé! Why? Because in the USA, drageés are considered “For Decoration Only”, and usually come with a label that says they’re not edible. This is due to the fact that the FDA has not deemed the silver food coloring used to give them their shiny, metallic finish as edible. In other countries, like Europe, Canada, and Australia, this food coloring is approved for consumption. So, if you live there, your drageés will indeed not have the same disclaimer on them. Businesses selling drageés in the USA are legally bound to have this “decoration only” label on drageés. Here, they are considered “non-toxic”, but not yet approved for full consumption.
Drageés originated in Europe & Greece over a hundred years ago, and were used for weddings & funerals. They are made of sugar, because they’re obviously consumed in other countries. The food coloring is where the discrepancy with the law resides. Since the metallic food coloring is considered “non-toxic” in the USA, we do feel good about selling them to consumers. Feel free to put them on cakes for lavish decorations, but we don’t recommend eating them due to the fact that they are WAY harder than a regular sprinkle, and can be dangerous for your teeth. They’re better used sparingly, and mostly for looking at and presentation (because they’re truly stunning). We sell blends with round dragees in different colors, as well as the coveted Rod drageé shape (macaroni shape). The bigger dragees should absolutely be scraped off before eating. Save the teeth!
Fancy Sprinkles Recommends:
Use sparingly for lavish decorations on show stopping desserts. Scrape off larger drageés before consuming (tooth hazard).
SUGAR CRYSTALS & SANDING SUGAR
Sanding sugar is essentially the same as granulated sugar, only it’s colored. At Fancy Sprinkles, we sell something called “Sugar Crystals”. Sugar crystals are different from sanding sugar in that they’re larger, chunkier sugar granules. They look pretty on nearly anything. They can be mixed in with other sprinkles, edible glitter, or are perfect as a standalone sprinkle! They even work great for rimming the edge of a cocktail glass.
Sprinkle Sugar Crystals on pastries for a super sparkly effect. Sprinkle on before baking macarons, rim champagne glasses, or add on top of cupcake frosting.
