Whether you're making icing for your kid's birthday cake, whipping up a vegan tofu scramble, or making your ordinary meal more holiday-appropriate, you probably have encountered a use for food coloring.Many food colorings approved for sale in grocery stores in the U.S. are believed to be toxic and potentially cancer-causing.Natural food dyes are safe, easy to make, and work just as well as the artificial ones that could damage your health.Many of the food items you already have in your pantry can be used to color your food.
Step 1: Vegetables have consistent coloring.
Greens with dark leaves and many root vegetables tend to work well in food dyes because they have deep, consistent, opaque coloring.If you choose veggies that are mostly one color throughout, they will be the most effective natural food dyes.Some vegetables seem like good candidates for natural food dye, but if they have high water content, they will produce weak, light shades.Many vegetables don't have the thick, concentrated juices that come from many fruits.Do not expect vegetable-based food dyes to be as bright as those made from berries.There are exceptions to this rule.
Step 2: Your vegetables should be boiled.
When vegetables are boiled, the color comes into the water.The vegetables that work best for this are those with a lot of water in them.Red cabbage and beets can be boiled to get their coloring.Only use enough water to barely cover the vegetables for a more concentrated color.The lighter the shade, the more water becomes the dye.A good rule of thumb for figuring out which vegetables produce the best colors is that those that stain your fingers will also easily dye the foods with which they come into contact.
Step 3: hydrate your vegetables
Place the item on an oven-safe tray if you use a food dehydrator.It could take up to six hours to cook them until they are as dry as possible.Before dehydrating large vegetables, cut them into thin slices.The process will be sped up by this.Vegetables can be stored in an airtight container for several months to a year once dried.
Step 4: The dried veggies should be ground into a powder.
The best way to do this is with a coffee grinder or food processor.The dye will affect the texture of the food you want to color.If you want to grind the veggies by hand, you can use a mortar and pestle, but this will take much longer and could result in less consistency.Before you grind up a different color of dried food, rinse off the utensils you use to make the powder.You won't be able to taint the color and flavor of your next powder with this.
Step 5: Some foods are already in powder form.
Many vegetables/herbs can be purchased in powdered form, which eliminates the need for drying and grinding.Pick those without added spices or flavoring so you don't affect the flavor of the food.If you don't mind watering down your food, you can mix the powder into a small amount of water or liquid and stir it into the food.If you want to avoid over-saturating your food, gradually achieve the right color.If you want to make a yellow dye, use stale turmeric.Tofu scrambles and vegan puddings are often made with turmeric.StaleTurmeric tends to have lost a bit of its natural flavor, so use this to avoid influencing the taste of your colored food.
Step 6: Pick fruits with juices that are opaque.
Fruits with bright colors do not always make for good food dye.The translucent juices of oranges and lemons do not stain other foods very effectively.A berry is very effective for coloring food.If you want to figure out which fruits will work best for you, squeeze or blend fruits and pour the juice into a clear glass.The juice will work as a food dye if you hold the glass up to the light.For red or pink coloring, strawberries produce a lighter, more pastel shade of pink, while raspberries and cherries are good options.Try a berry for blue or purple.
Step 7: Either juice or blend fruit.
Fruit juice food coloring is made from the fruit itself.In order to liquefy them for your dye, stick them in a food processor or blender.Most of these types of fruits don't make good dyes, so you can use a juicer for hand fruits.Fruits must be fresh in order to juice them effectively and you can start with either fresh or frozen fruit.Fruit pits, large seeds, and inedible peels can ruin your machine and will not help your food dye production efforts.If you are using a food processor, add a small amount of water to the fruit in order to allow it to liquefy.
Step 8: The juice should be strained.
Fruits, seeds, skins, and other fibers can end up in the juice.In order to preserve the consistency of the food you wish to dye, remove these elements from the juice by passing it through a mesh sieve.Maintaining consistency and smoothness in your dyes is dependent on straining.If you are going for a less even look, you can choose not to strain the fruit juice if there are no seeds in it.If it's not possible to strain a very finely-blended berry completely, consider a juice or boiling option.Don't use a sieve or strainer that is large enough to hold seeds and fibers.Make sure your mesh is effective by testing a small portion of your juice.
Step 9: The juice should be reduced.
The strained juice can be used as a food dye.The color can be increased by cooking off some of the water in the juice.Pour the juice into a small saucepan and cook it over medium heat until it becomes a thick paste.If it is made from berries, the dye will have a dense flavor.Don't use it too much to avoid flavorContamination.If you are going for a lighter coloring, skip this.
Step 10: Pick compatible colors.
The result of your dyeing efforts will be affected if the food you are attempting to color is already a color other than white.If you add juiced raspberries to blue frosting, don't expect it to turn red.To test the outcome, use a small amount of dye and food.If you need to adjust the shade of your coloring substance, you can mix it with other shades.If you want to settle on a color, don't mix too many different dyes together.This can cause the dye to turn out brownish.
Step 11: There are dye options with subtle flavors.
If there are multiple options for making one color of food dye, choose the one with the more subtle flavor.saffron and turmeric can both be used for yellow coloring, but saffron is more intense and usually makes a better choice.If you want to add flavor to the food, this is an exception.To avoid creating an unattractive mixture, be sure to match the flavor types.In terms of intensity, not all dye production methods are equal.Juicing and Blending will create dyes that are brighter and more intense tasting than the boiling or drying methods recommended for some vegetables.
Step 12: It's important to pay attention to consistency.
Creating food dyes that compliment the consistency of your food is a way to keep it from becoming too wet.Common sense also goes a long way and this will take some trial and error.Put powdered coloring into mashed potatoes or cake icing.Sprinkling powder on a dry food won't spread the coloring consistently.If wetness is not a concern, use liquid coloring only in certain foods.If too much liquid coloring is used, dry foods can become too wet.
Step 13: When necessary, mask unwanted flavors.
Adding additional flavors to your food dye can help rid it of flavor contamination.A hint of flavor from the coloring in cake icing can be covered up with a drop or two of the extract.This method doesn't work well for sweet foods.If you use a lot of salt and butter to color cauliflower red, you might not be able to mask the taste of the dye.Many extracts and other substances that can be useful for masking flavors are expensive so use them less.