The Wow Factor: Origami Crane Garnishes

We stumbled across this little doozy of a project at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories while researching croutons last week, and...wow. That's all we can say. Wow! This looks labor intensive, but imagine the reaction of your guests at a dinner party if you topped each bowl of soup with one of these edible origami cranes!

Wonton wrappers make the perfect medium for this project. They're square-shaped, flexible, and readily available at most markets. Project creator Lenore recommends finding the thinnest wrappers possible.

Folded wonton cranes can either be microwaved into stiffness or deep-fried. Microwaving is easier, but as Lenore mentions, deep-frying is so much tastier!

• Get Step-by-Step Instructions: Edible Origami at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

This idea has already sparked our imagination for other similar projects. Stars would be great for holiday dishes. We're also thinking of trying little wonton origami boxes that could be used as edible appetizer cups.

What other origami shapes do you think could work as a garnish?

(Images: Flickr member L. Marie licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (8)

Such a cute idea! I'm good at folding paper cranes but honestly don't know about it with wonton wrappers. That sounds tough.

posted by jmorri26 on November 9th 2009 at 10:46am
view jmorri26's profile

@jmorri26, I bet it would be just like folding with delicate paper. They aren't THAT fragile so it should be totally doable.

posted by Tiamat_the_Red on November 9th 2009 at 12:58pm
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile

Now these are admittedly cool and yet I think my reaction would be that somebody bought them. I think rustic has a little more impact on me.

posted by sally599 on November 9th 2009 at 1:53pm
view sally599's profile

You can also bake the wrappers to crispness, just fyi. 325* for about 15 minutes should do it.

Tiamat: I sense a project coming on! We could totally do this at Christmas.

posted by deliriumsama on November 9th 2009 at 2:15pm
view deliriumsama's profile

I bet you could baste them with a little butter and sprinkle with some spices (parm cheese, garlic salt, dill, curry powder, etc) and they'd be very tasty. I think i would definitely opt for baking them.

posted by theripetomato on November 9th 2009 at 3:54pm
view theripetomato's profile

Oh, man! Gorgeous!

posted by eprewitt on November 9th 2009 at 4:29pm
view eprewitt's profile

Pain in the butt to fold, but would be very dramatic for presentation.

posted by crazykj on November 9th 2009 at 11:44pm
view crazykj's profile

How about making a boat form with stuff (cheese, herbs, chopped tomatoes...) filled in it after frying? I think I'm going to try that. Could be great as appetizers. Hope the boat fluffs up, though.

posted by manjari on November 10th 2009 at 6:50pm
view manjari's profile