Coloring is a fun option to spice up a meal, whether it's to add red to a Santa's hat on a Christmas cake, to make a yellow sun to a cupcake, or to make a blue sea from mashed potatoes. There are plenty of other colors to choose from besides these three primary colors because making different food colorings is fun, easy, and will add a lot of fun to your dish.
Step
Part 1 of 2: Preparing Food Coloring
Step 1. Be aware of the possible dangers of artificial food coloring
Several medical and scientific sources indicate that artificial food coloring can be linked to cancer, brain tumors, hyperactivity, and behavioral problems in children.
- Recently the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) required manufacturers to add warning labels to the most commonly used artificial dyes, including Yellow #5 , Red #40 , Blue #1 , Green #3, and Orange B. However, these colors can still be used and are added to processed foods, and are still sold in stores.
- Although the decision to use artificial coloring in these foods is yours, it is necessary to be aware of the possible harmful risks associated with these substances. That way, as a consumer, you can make decisions based on that information.
Step 2. Consider using organic food coloring
There are several brands that produce organic or natural food coloring made from food and plant extracts. This type of dye is widely available on the internet and in stores.
- Remember, most of these products suggest testing a few organic dyes first and seeing which one works best for your project as some colors may not survive high heat forging.
- Organic dyes are also expensive. So, buy a small size for a trial before you buy in larger and more expensive quantities.
Step 3. Make your own food coloring
This is an option that will take more time at first, but is more cost efficient and you can ensure that the food coloring you use is natural. You can use juices from fruits and vegetables like beets, pomegranates, carrots, cabbage, and potatoes, as well as spices like cinnamon, turmeric, and cocoa powder to create beautiful natural colors for foods. But keep in mind, that there is a difference between natural and artificial dyes, namely:
- Natural dye hues are often duller or paler than artificial dyes. With store-bought concentrated food coloring, you only need a few drops. This dye will not change the texture of the food because the liquid that is poured into it is only a little. As such, it will be more difficult to get a deep red color from beet juice than a pink color because most recipes don't add as much liquid as needed to get the true red color from the beets.
- Because natural dyes contain other foodstuffs, recipes that are heavily colored will also tend to have the flavor of the food substance they are coloring in. So, don't use too many natural dyes in your recipe so that the taste of the dye does not dominate the original taste of the dish to make it unenjoyable. For example, a little cinnamon can make a deep brown color. However, in large amounts, cinnamon can drown out other flavors.
- If possible, use food essence in powder form, rather than liquid. For example, using beetroot powder instead of beetroot juice will give your recipe a deep, beautiful red color without adding a lot of liquid to your recipe.
- If you want to use this method, you must buy or have a blender.
Part 2 of 2: Mixing Food Coloring
Step 1. Print a color wheel image
This is a key reference for mixing colors. The color wheel is very useful for visualizing colors as you mix them.
Step 2. Collect the primary colors, namely:
blue, red, and yellow. You have to mix these colors to get a secondary color. After that, mix the secondary colors to get a tertiary color.
- Think of primary colors as “parent colors” in a color family. When two primary colors are combined, you get three new hues called secondary colors. Thus, secondary colors are the "saplings" in the color family.
- When a primary color is mixed with the closest secondary color on the color wheel, you get six new hues called tertiary colors. So, tertiary colors are like grandchildren in the color family.
Step 3. Mix all three secondary colors
Use three clean bowls to mix the colors. Remember, if you are using artificial dyes, you will only need a few drops for each dye. If you're using natural dyes, you'll likely need a larger volume of dye.
- Take yellow and mix it with red to make orange.
- Take red and mix it with blue to make purple.
- Take blue and mix it with yellow to make green.
Step 4. Create a tertiary color
After creating the secondary colors, prepare six clean bowls to create the tertiary colors.
- Take yellow and mix it with orange to make yellow-orange.
- Take red and mix it with orange to make a red-orange.
- Take red and mix it with violet to make red-violet.
- Take blue and mix it with violet to make blue-violet.
- Take blue and mix it with green to make blue-green.
- Take yellow and mix it with green to make yellow-green.
Step 5. Experiment with other hues, tones, tones, and shades
Once you've got the twelve basic colors, you can add red or orange to make a certain shade of red, or add purple or blue to make a certain blue tone. Now, you can create an infinite variety of colors to enhance your dish.
