Natural Food Coloring

The idea of natural food coloring initiated when I ordered red velvet cake for my 30th birthday party. If you haven't guessed yet, red velvet cake has a brilliant red hue that requires tons of food coloring. My friend who made the cake for me was really the person who got me thinking about food coloring substitutes. Instead of picking the easy option of food chemicals, she decided to substitute half of the coloring with natural food color. She extracted the juice of beets to give the vibrant red needed for the cake. It requires some experimentation on her part but she didn't mind it one bit.

I hope this article will inspire you to change our choice of food coloring. Instead of going for the easy but artificial option, why don't we spend a little extra time and effort to substitute with something organic and better for you? I would and I hope you will do the same too.

Enjoy some of the ideas I put together! Most homemade food coloring can last up to 2 weeks.

Color: Natural Foods

Red and Pink: Beet, Cranberries, Pomegranate, Raspberries, Red currents, Red bell pepper, Rhubarb, Tomato, Spices like Chili and Paprika powders

Orange: Carrot

Yellow: Yellow bell pepper, yellow beet, Pineapple, Spices like Saffron, Turmeric

Green: Avocado, Cucumber, Green bell pepper, Spinach, Leafy greens like Kale, Romaine

Blue and Purple: Acai, Blackberries, Blueberries, Eggplant, Grapes, Radicchio, Red Cabbage

Brown: Cocoa powder, Coffee

Black: Squid ink (Beware: black can leave stains!)

Resources:

Care2.com's 8 Ways to Make Organic Food Coloring

Kblog's Homemade Food Coloring

Date Modified: Jan 9, 2013