food-coloring-home

Natural Food Coloring is Unappealing

There is a growing movement toward usage of organic products with no additives, but truth be told, many people would find untouched foodstuffs inedible to the eye. Butter is normally white, but colored yellow for eye appeal. Off-colored foods may be perfectly edible and delicious, but may seem inferior by appearance.

For example, often tree-ripened oranges are sprayed with a red coloring to correct the natural orangy-brown or mottled green color of their peels to the bright orange we expect. Food coloring is added to ice creams and sherbets to again meet consumer expectations. Would a candied apple taste as good without that bright red coating? Of course it would, but sales would drop dramatically.

Food Coloring at Home

You are probably most familiar with food coloring made for home use that comes in the tiny plastic bottles. The little 4-pack contains vials of Yellow No. 5, Red No. 40, Blue No. 1, and Red No. 3, from which you can create a rainbow of colors by mixing and diluting. Neon colors are also now available in that familiar 4-pack box.

Probably the most common usage is for coloring Easter eggs and desserts.

For those of you with an abundance of snow looking for a fun winter activity for the kids, simply fill spray bottles with water and food color and let the kids spraypaint their own original artwork on the snow for the world to enjoy.

Food coloring is also used as a visual enhancer in many standard recipes to brighten the natural coloring of sauces, beverages, fillings, and of course, frostings. In addition to the standard red, yellow, green, and blue four-packs of food coloring carried at your local grocery store, many cake and candy suppliers carry colors such as burgundy, teal, royal blue, and even black, so you do not have to mix your own.

The food color recipe collection includes recipes for using food colors at home.