Add the 'Haute cuisine' look to your salads with these decorative olive oil drops encapsulated in isomalt.

Step 1: Items Required

You will of course need the two main ingredients: isomalt and olive oil

As an alternative to isomalt, you can try regular sugar, although it is much more difficult to work with and the drops will not hold up as well.

As for utensils, you require a small pot (an small cast iron skillet works the best, being able to hold heat longer), a short piece of metal tube (I have used some copper joining elements from the hardware store), a small spoon and a pair of heat resistant gloves (as an alternative you can use some thin cotton gloves and best if you cover them with another pair of latex gloves)

Step 2: Melt the Isomalt

Melt the isomalt in the cast iron skillet, making sure that you do not overheat it, and that it does not start to burn

Step 3: Forming the Drops

Dip the metal tube in the isomalt, so that it form a film at the end of the tube.

Pour the oil through the tube, so that it hits this isomalt film, pulling it down into a drop, which will solidify as it cools and falls down.

Step 4: Usage

Use these oil filled drops to decorate your salads and other dishes.

Be sure you serve the dish right away, as the isomalt (and ever more so, regular sugar) will absorb moisture from the air as well as the salad and after some time will disintegrate and the drop will collapse releasing the oil.

Enjoy!