For my first ingredient purchase, I opted for Wilton Color Flow because it was less expensive, and had fewer odd and difficult to pronounce ingredients than meringue powder (MP). Did a bit of research and learned that MP also has cream of tartar, so when I made my first batch by the MP royal icing (RI) recipe inside the lid, I shorted the 3T Color Flow measurement by 1T and added 1T of cream of tartar. Everything turned out just fine and I was able to practice flood many MANY cookies and play with wet-on-wet, quilting, and layered effects with this RI at 10-second flood consistency. It dried well and had a small bit of a sheen.
I'm curious as to what the differences may be between RI made with Color Flow and cream of tartar and a basic MP recipe.
Is the texture different?
Does coloring take better with MP?
Can it be flavored as easily with non-oil based extracts/flavors?
Does it keep just as long at room temp?