Boil it in a covered pan for 10 minutes on low flame adding one-fourth cup of water. Spinach is a popular option for any recipes requiring a green hue. Promise! I recently heard about a kid doing a blind taste test of nat­ural ver­sus arti­fi­cial fla­vors for a school sci­ence project. We topped them with fresh blue­ber­ries and not one kid at the party didn’t eat their cup­cake, and none of them com­mented on the taste other than “yum”. Get your fix of expert articles delivered straight to your inbox! Thanks for com­ing by! Golden beets and/or turmeric serve nicely as the basis for yellow food coloring.http://nourishingjoy.com/homemade-natural-food-dyes/ To make, follow these instructions from Studio DIY: Peel and dice the beet, then mix with ¼ cup of water and a teaspoon or two of turmeric. Luckily, it is possible to ditch artificial food colorants. How to Make Nat­ural Pink Food Coloring […], […] Pink – rasp­berry juice (obtained by thaw­ing rasp­ber­ries in a bowl), plus 1/2 tsp white vinegar […], Your email address will not be published. Let it cool and use as blue food dye. Not only will you sidestep any negative health effects of the dyes themselves, but you’re also likely to eat fewer processed and/or high-sugar foods.http://wholenewmom.com/recipes/natural-blue-food-coloring-dye-just-in-time-for-easter/. Use a little to make things yellow, and more to turn things orange. Although they provide no nutritional value, they’re added to a wide range of foods to intensify color or give those foods the color people expect to see.http://www.todaysparent.com/family/family-health/food-dyes/ (For example, boxed cake batters may be dyed yellow in to look like they’re made from real eggs.).

There are plenty of common, everyday fruits and vegetables that can get the job done. Would it be tricky and time con­sum­ing? To make the col­or­ing, I boiled two medium-size beets with skin on for about 45 min­utes (until ten­der). An award-winning food writer and cookbook author, Molly Watson has created more than 1,000 recipes focused on local, seasonal ingredients. Then, I tasted it myself.

Here are a few great ideas to get started. Oops! I tested it on my fairly sus­pi­cious 7-year-old son, who deemed it “just as yummy as the other [i.e., arti­fi­cially col­ored] kind.” (I took it as a com­pli­ment.)

Does cook­ing them and puree­ing them work bet­ter than this? Thank you!!! Stir 1 teaspoon baking soda into the purple liquid to turn it blue. Red cabbage requires a tiny bit of extra effort to turn it into food dye, but the pure blue color is totally worth it. I used the beet syrup to colour the icing, which went a beau­ti­ful dark pink colour. Natural food coloring is typically less vibrant than the synthetic stuff. There are tons of different ingredients you can use to make food dyes and plenty of recipes online to suit your specific project’s needs. As you experiment with natural food colorings, there are a few things to keep in mind: An attitude of experimentation will serve you well as you learn how to make your own safe and natural food coloring. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Research suggests that synthetic food coloring may harm human health in a variety of ways. Just so you know, I tried using rasp­berry juice (obtained by thaw­ing frozen rasp­ber­ries in a bowl) and it just didn’t pro­duce the same beau­ti­ful pinky color. No, in fact, it wasn’t!

». As with blueberries, for just a bit of dye and a lighter pink color, simply put a few cherries in a piece of cheesecloth or muslin, and twist and squeeze some dying juice. Whirl them in a blender or food processor, strain the purée through a fine-mesh sieve, and use the juice to dye food green. And the pink treats that I made with the home­made dye would be enough to make Pinka­li­cious weep with joy. I’m always look­ing for new ideas! As with blueberries, for just a bit of dye and a lighter pink color, simply put a few cherries in a piece of cheesecloth or muslin, and twist and squeeze some dying juice.

You can use turmeric straight, simply stirring the powdered form into things. Most recipes call for juicing it, but it also imparts color if you toss a few whole leaves into the batter of whatever you’re making.http://leitesculinaria.com/96672/recipes-natural-food-coloring.html Other options for green food coloring include liquid chlorophyll (find it at your nearest health food store), matcha powder, spirulina powder (also sold at health food stores), wheatgrass juice, and parsley juice. Your best option is to work with red cabbage or radicchio.

Scientists are still researching and debating the effects and potential risks of food dyes on human health. Whether you want to dye frosting, cake batter, milkshakes, or pancakes, there's no need to turn to artificial colors. Get expert articles delivered straight to your inbox!

Use these specific examples, but feel free to work from this assumption: if something stains your hands while handling it, it can dye food. If you want to make a more traditional dye, dissolve 1 teaspoon turmeric in 1/2 cup water, bring to a boil, and reduce by half.

And in case any­one is won­der­ing why I’d go to all this trou­ble: We have made the deci­sion to avoid syn­thetic food dyes in our house. Your email address will not be published. I cooked 4 beets and put them aside, and then reduced the cook­ing liq­uid until it was a thick syrup (about 2 Tbsp). Next, I strained the beet puree using a sieve over a glass bowl and col­lected the deep pink juice (you can skip this step as long as you puree until smooth and don’t mind a lit­tle “sed­i­ment” in the lemonade).