Yes, You Really Can Eat Your Gold

One often heard argument against hoarding gold is, "But you can't eat it." Well, boys and girls, the truth is, you can eat your gold. In Mexico, you can suck on a tequila popsicle with 24 carat gold flakes inside. Of course, be prepared to shell out $1,000 for your luxury ice pop. Sounds like the perfect way to cool off on a summer day. You can eat gold leaf sushi rolls and gold leaf chicken. You can eat chocolate cake covered in gold with a few diamonds thrown in as well. Wash it all down with gold infused Champagne followed by a shot of longtime favorite, Goldschlaeger, which has flakes of gold. Gold is even used as a food coloring and has its own food coloring number code in Europe, E175. Of course, you won't be getting any nutritional value from ingesting gold. But the same holds true for US dollars too. Eighteen Franklins won't make a meal either. "But you can buy a nice meal with a couple Franklins," say the foes of gold. You can surely buy a nice meal with an American Eagle one-tenth ounce coin as well. It is highly doubtful a restaurant would turn you away because you only have gold. Most people are under the mistaken belief that gold is a commodity. Even many who believe a collapse of society is imminent fail to recognize gold for what it is: gold is a currency. With gold trading at record levels, expect to hear more foolishness about the metal, such as you can't eat it. ACTION ITEMS:

Bullish:
Traders who believe that gold prices will rise might want to consider the following trades:

• Buy physical gold

• SPDR Gold Shares GLD

Bearish:
Traders who believe that the price of gold will fall may consider these alternate positions:

• PowerShares DB Gold Double Short ETN DZZ

• ProShares UltraShort Gold GLL

Neither Benzinga nor its staff recommend that you buy, sell, or hold any security. We do not offer investment advice, personalized or otherwise. Benzinga recommends that you conduct your own due diligence and consult a certified financial professional for personalized advice about your financial situation.