Plant- based dyes add tint naturally
From Kraft to Campbell’s, more and more food companies are reformulating their products to be free of artificial colors. Kraft Macaroni & Cheese went artificialdye- free in 2015, and Campbell’s plans to eliminate artificial coloring by 2018.
But what about foods where shocking hues are desirable? Such as cupcakes and iced sugar cookies.
We recently tested Color Kitchen’s Food Colors From Nature and Sprinkles From Nature.
The food colors are available in pink, blue, yellow, orange and green. The sprinkles come in multicolor packs. The food colors can be mixed to create additional colors.
We used the colors to tint frosting and cake batter. Unfortunately, the colors did not hold up well in the heat of the oven, and the cakes lost the vibrant hue they had before baking. Information on the company’s website explains the colors break down at temperatures above 250 degrees. We wish that information had been included in the product packaging.
Unlike conventional food coloring, the powdered, plantbased dyes require dissolving in water or glycerin — who keeps glycerin on hand? — before mixing into the recipe. And it isn’t clear exactly how much water or glycerin is necessary. We wish that information were included in the product packaging, too.
We weren’t always able to get the powders completely dissolved with just “a few” drops of water, and when we followed the instructions — place powder in a small bowl, add a few drops of water or glycerin, mix and blend into recipe — we seemed to lose as much of the color as we used.
We had the best luck adding the powders directly to the liquid used in the recipe, rather than trying to dissolve them separately.
Once they were mixed, we were quite pleased with the colors. The pink was a bright rosy pink. The yellow was sunny and bright. And the blue was as lovely as the sky on a clear day.
But that’s not to say these food colors are exactly the same as their conventional counterparts.
One taster noted the cake and frosting with the pink color had a pronounced “fruit- like flavor” that the other colors did not. And the blue- colored foods had a different smell. The yellow was deemed the best- tasting of the three primary colors. These differences were not unpleasant, just different, and it’s entirely possible someone not looking for differences would not find any. ( For the record, one taster claims to be able to taste conventional food color as well.)
The sprinkles were unremarkable. Slightly chalky — aren’t all sprinkles chalky? — and the colors are somewhat muted compared with conventional sprinkles, but overall there were no big differences.
So where exactly do the colors get their hues? The pink color is beet based; the yellow is turmeric; the blue is spirulina ( a type of algae); the orange is made from annatto, a plant extract; and the green is a combination of turmeric and spirulina.
The plant- based colors are vegan and gluten- free, but they are manufactured on equipment that also processes products made with soy, nuts, milk and wheat. So those with allergies should be cautious.
Even so, if it means the difference between a unicorn cake and heartbreak, these inconveniences were a small price to pay.