美国国家公共电台 NPR Gourmet Sprinkles Make Sweets And Other Treats Sparkle

 

RAY SUAREZ, HOST:

Holidays are a busy time, especially if you like baking. And it's around the holidays that many bakers² pay extra attention to how pretty their bakes look. The new secret ingredient to make this happen - gourmet³ sprinkles. NPR's Adhiti Bandlamudi reports.

ADHITI BANDLAMUDI, BYLINE⁴: Regular sprinkles - you know, the ones coated in wax and lacking in flavor - can be found at the grocery store for a dollar or two. Gourmet sprinkles go for up to $20 a bottle. That's 8 ounces of tiny sugar rods coated in gold and silver. Throw in some rice paper cutouts of unicorns⁵ - Christmas trees, too. This is the sound of a crunchy, metallic⁶ sugar pearl also included in the mix.

ELIZABETH BUTTS⁷: Chew it with your back teeth 'cause they're hard.

(SOUNDBITE OF SPRINKLE CRUNCHING)

BUTTS: They're very hard. I like the way they taste, though, personally (laughter).

BANDLAMUDI: Elizabeth Butts started a gourmet sprinkle company called Sprinkle Pop from her kitchen in Katy, Texas, earlier this year. She's a cake decorator and was looking for sprinkles with very specific shades of blue, black and green for a baby shower cake. But she couldn't find what she wanted, so she decided⁸ to make them herself.

BUTTS: And so I went and bought the raw ingredients that I needed to do it myself. And kind of like - even before I got the sprinkles home, it was like the idea was already in my head that I wanted to sell sprinkles.

BANDLAMUDI: But before officially opening her business, she decided to check out the competition. Wilton, one of the biggest baking supply companies in the world, makes fine of standard sprinkles but nothing like what Sprinkle Pop offers to the market.

BUTTS: It was obvious to me that if I was going to do it, it was a great time to get in. But I think with anyone who's starting a new venture, it's like you know the demand is there. But you're not quite sure how big the demand is. I mean...

BANDLAMUDI: So who's buying her product. Butts says her biggest customer is a baking supply store in Australia. Most of her customers are cake decorators. She faces competition from two other companies, Sweetapolita and Fancy Sprinkles. Take a quick look on Instagram or Pinterest and you'll find grilled⁹ cheese sandwiches with sprinkles cooked into the cheese, balls of cheesecake encrusted with sprinkles, pancakes with sprinkles tossed in the batter¹⁰.

AMBER¹¹ SPIEGEL: It just gives it a little bit of extra sparkle and pizzazz that you sometimes can't get with just icing alone.

BANDLAMUDI: That's Amber Spiegel. She owns a cookie decorating company called Sweet Ambs Cookie Art, based in Kingston, N.Y., and has over a million followers¹² on Instagram. Spiegel posts YouTube videos showing her making intricately decorated sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles. She has a total of almost 80 million views.

SPIEGEL: The people that are eating them are just, like, blown away. And they always say, oh, it's too pretty to eat. But, you know, they taste good, so they eat them (laughter).

BANDLAMUDI: She relies on gourmet sprinkles for some of her designs.

SPIEGEL: I just think that people love shiny and pretty, sparkly things. Like, maybe we're kind of like cats or birds in that way - that we're just attracted to that type of thing.

BANDLAMUDI: Spiegel says, as a baker¹, she's willing to spend money on fancy gourmet sprinkles. It's not cheap, but it's a quick and easy way to make a cookie sparkle.

Adhiti Bandlamudi, NPR News.

1 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

2 bakers   

n.面包师( baker的名词复数 )；面包店；面包店店主；十三

参考例句：

• The Bakers have invited us out for a meal tonight. 贝克一家今晚请我们到外面去吃饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bakers specialize in catering for large parties. 那些面包师专门负责为大型宴会提供食品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 gourmet   

n.食物品尝家；adj.出于美食家之手的

参考例句：

• What does a gourmet writer do? 美食评论家做什么？
• A gourmet like him always eats in expensive restaurants.像他这样的美食家总是到豪华的餐馆用餐。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 unicorns   

n.（传说中身体似马的）独角兽( unicorn的名词复数 )；一角鲸；独角兽标记

参考例句：

• Unicorns are legendary beasts. 独角兽是传说里的野兽。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Assemble50 Elder Druids, 30 Silver Unicorns and10 Green Dragons do defend it. 募集50个德鲁伊长老，30只银色独角兽和10条绿龙用于防御。 来自互联网

6 metallic   

adj.金属的；金属制的；含金属的；产金属的；像金属的

参考例句：

• A sharp metallic note coming from the outside frightened me.外面传来尖锐铿锵的声音吓了我一跳。
• He picked up a metallic ring last night.昨夜他捡了一个金属戒指。

7 butts   

笑柄( butt的名词复数 )； （武器或工具的）粗大的一端； 屁股； 烟蒂

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。
• The house butts to a cemetery. 这所房子和墓地相连。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 grilled   

adj. 烤的, 炙过的, 有格子的 动词grill的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• He was grilled for two hours before the police let him go. 他被严厉盘查了两个小时后，警察才放他走。
• He was grilled until he confessed. 他被严加拷问，直到他承认为止。

10 batter   

v.接连重击；磨损；n.牛奶面糊；击球员

参考例句：

• The batter skied to the center fielder.击球手打出一个高飞球到中外野手。
• Put a small quantity of sugar into the batter.在面糊里放少量的糖。

11 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

12 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。