Natural Food Colours For Cooking

By Sneha

Friday, June 15, 2012, 18:07

Have you ever wondered why the dish that you prepared does not look as beautiful as the one you see in recipe books or web portals? Well the answer is simple. Food colour is used by the professionals to make their dish look tasty and attractive.

Food colour means any die, pigment or substance that can add colour to your dish. It is used both for domestic and commercial purposes. But it is always better to use natural food colour for your cooking than the synthetic ones as they do not have any side effects. Moreover you can make them out of some simple ingredients in your kitchen.

If a dish looks good then it starts getting words of admiration from the very moment. So get ready to decorate your dish with these simple natural food colour recipes.

Dark Brown:

Roast cinnamon, cloves and black pepper on a pan for 5-6 minutes over a medium flame. Grind this mixture finely and add to any gravy you are making to get a dark chocolate colour.

If you want to add this colour to any pulses just soak a tea bag in it while boiling. You will find a dark chocolate colour added to it after the pulses get boiled.

Planning to add a lovely chocolate colour to any confectionery? Well you need some sugar, beet root juice and milk for it. Caramelize abut 5-6 tsp of sugar, 2tsp of beet root juice and 1tsp milk in it. Stir it over a low flame for 2-3 minutes and get a chocolate colouring for your sweet dishes.

Red:

Red food colouring is most sought after. And the easiest way to get red food colouring is through beet root juice. Beet root juice yields a red colour to any food. Red chilli powder or tomatoes also give a tinge of red to your curries.

Orange:

Carrots are the best source of an orange food colouring. Carrots aren't sweet, so you need not worry about altering the taste of the food you add it to. You may even opt for crushed orange peels, but carrots are the best option available for an orange food colouring

Green:

Have you been struggling for adding some green colour to your dishes? You can use spinach or avaocado paste for it. Avocado or spinach adds a pastel green colour to your food.

Yellow:

Both saffron and turmeric yields a golden yellow colour to the food. Saffron also adds a beautiful aroma to the food along with its colour. But it is recommended to use very little amounts of this food colouring as it may alter the taste of your food.

Pink:

Raspberry and strawberry juice adds a hint of pink colour to your food. And the best part of it is that the children are delighted even by the name of it.

Blue And Violet:

Blueberries and blackberries can be processed or mashed to get blue and violet colours respectively. You can add them to any recipe to get these hues.

These natural food colour elements work excellent and are perfectly safe to consume. If any other natural food colour is known to you do let us know.