Homemade Natural Food Colors

Good news for healthy enthusiasts: natural food coloring is the ideal way to color your plates! Whether your wish is to wow your guests, surprise the children or simply spice up a recipe, playing with color is the best strategy to adopt. Find out how to make 100% natural dyes from vegetables, fruits, spices and flowers.

Why only use natural dyes?

Chemical dyes can pose health risks. It is important to be aware of this because food additives of this kind are widely used in commercial confectionery and pastries (chewing gum, candies, cakes, cookies, lollipops etc.) which children have difficulty in knowing. resist. Natural food colors are the 100% healthy alternative that will beautify your culinary creations while being beneficial for your body and that of your children. A real feast for the eyes as for the taste buds, the dyes from plants offer an incredible palette of colors and bring fantasy to your dishes.

What plants can you use to make natural food colors at home?

Nature is full of natural resources that you can turn into healthy natural dyes. Among them, there is the use of vegetables such as carrots, beets, spinach, fruits such as mango, strawberries, cherries, blackberries, blueberries or spices such as turmeric, saffron or paprika.

As for the different techniques with which to experiment to make natural food coloring, there are:

• Juice extraction: this technique is used, for example, to collect juice from red fruits, beets or lamb's lettuce;

• The infusion and decoction of the leaves are used for teas or for flower petals.

• Drying is also possible. For example, red fruits can be dried to obtain a pink or red dye. Spirulina or hibiscus are sold in powder form which is very easy to add to different culinary preparations.

Do-it-yourself natural food coloring made from fruits, vegetables and spices

Natural yellow / orange food coloring

For yellow tones, just:

• Make a decoction of dandelion flowers.

• Make a decoction of the flowering tops of St. John's Wort.

• Use a pinch of the following spices: turmeric, saffron or curry.

In order to get a nice orange shade, there are a few options:

• 1 pinch of saffron;

• 1 pinch of paprika;

• Tomato paste;

• Carrot juice;

• Sea buckthorn berry juice.

Red food coloring

• To obtain a red, simply mix red fruits (strawberries, raspberries etc.) and filter them to collect the juice.

• Beetroot puree mixed with a few drops of lemon juice.

• It is also possible to boil a few dried hibiscus leaves in a small amount of water for about 15 minutes.

Pink natural coloring

For the pink tint, it is possible to use:

• Hibiscus powder;

• Beetroot powder;

• Red wine;

• Red fruit juice.

Purple dye

• Violet is obtained with a velvety red cabbage soup. If the latter combines with sodium bicarbonate, the color will turn blue.

• Crushed blueberries give an intense purple.

Blue dye

To obtain a natural blue food coloring, all you have to do is:

• Prepare an herbal tea made from Clitoria ternatea flower petals (butterfly peas or blue peas).

• Bet on steamed red cabbage, crushed and mixed with sodium bicarbonate.

Green natural coloring

For green tones:

• Crush spinach with a little water then squeeze in cheesecloth to collect the juice. Heat the juice and collect the green gel that will appear on the surface.

• Matcha tea powder: depending on the dosage, you will obtain a more or less intense green.

• Barley grass powder.

• Spirulina powder.

• The juice of green vegetables, filtered and heated.

• The juice of aromatic herbs, filtered and heated.

Brown coloring:

To get brown food coloring, use:

• Coffee powder - it gives a dark shade

• Coffee grounds - for a dark brown

• Cocoa

powder - for a brown color

• Chicory powder - for a dark brown • Cinnamon - a light brown

• A decoction of black tea leaves produces a light brown

Black natural coloring

To make natural black food coloring:

• Use activated vegetable charcoal powder;

• Experiment with squid ink. Depending on the dosage, you will obtain a more or less intense black.