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Hi Bold Bakers!
Now more than ever we want to know what goes into our food. What better way to know than to make your food yourself. Food dye has gotten a bad rap, so if you don’t want to use it or want an all natural solution then this is for you.
Fruits, vegetables and spices have a strong pigment which is what makes them perfect for Homemade Food Coloring.
This dye isn’t as concentrated as regular dye so you might need to use more. It will work best for dying icing and frostings. For a cake, you will need to add more.
Does the All Natural Homemade Food Coloring taste like weird? Nope! You use such small amounts that you won’t taste the fruits and vegetables. Also, they are all quite mild flavored foods, with the exception of the Turmeric. Turmeric doesn’t actually have much taste, it is mostly used for its color. You will notice that this is the strongest homemade food coloring of them all and you only need to use very small amounts to get a strong yellow color.
If you want to make your own colors and expand your color wheel, you can mix two colors together to get a new one or use other fruits and vegetables like carrot juice.
If you want to see my All Natural Homemade Food Coloring in action then check out my No-Bake Funfetti Cheesecake Recipe. This gorgeous pink colored cheesecake is all thanks to my food coloring.
I like to be able to provided homemade solutions for baking ingredients so be sure to check out my more Bold Baking Basics like my Homemade Condensed Milk recipe and Egg Substitute tips.
Thanks to Leites Culinaria for the great All Natural Homemade Food Coloring recipes.
Put good ingredients into your food and get great results out.
Beets give you an amazing deep red, almost pink color. It looks beautiful and you don’t get the beet taste. And you can buy the bottles I used here on Amazon.com.
I used Spinach to yield me a green food coloring, however you can use any leafy green that has a rich color.
Turmeric is mostly used in cooking to color dishes a bright yellow. This makes it a great option to make All Natural Homemade yellow food coloring.
Ironically, blueberries work so well for Homemade Purple Food Coloring, not blue like you might think.
Raising your Bold Baking game by making your own All Natural Homemade Food Coloring!!! You will be amazed by the results.
Try These Recipes!
Watch The Recipe Video!
All Natural Homemade Food Coloring
Ingredients
Pink food coloring- 1/4 cup (60 g) cooked beets (canned or fresh)
- ½ cup (4oz/115g) beet juice (from can or cooking liquid)
Yellow food coloring - ½ cup (4oz/115g) water
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
Purple food coloring - ½ cup (4oz/115g) blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen and thawed)
- ⅓ cup (3oz /90g) water
Green food coloring - 1 cup (1oz/30g) spinach, fresh or frozen (if frozen, thaw and drain)
- ½ cup (4oz/115g) water
Instructions
- Pink
- In a blender or food processor, blend the beets and juice together until smooth. Pass through a sieve to remove the beets and save the beet liquid which is your food coloring.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator.
- Yellow
- In a small saucepan, simmer the water and turmeric for 2 to 3 minutes. Allow to fully cool.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator. Turmeric can stain, so use a container you don’t mind turning yellow.
- Purple
- In a blender or food processor, blend the blueberries and water together until smooth. I like to use frozen berries because they have better color when defrosted. Pass through a sieve to remove the skins and pulp from the mix so you are just left with the purple liquid.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator.
- Green
- If using fresh spinach, in a small saucepan, simmer the spinach and water for 2-3 minutes. Don’t cover the spinach as it will dull the green color. If using frozen and thawed spinach skip this step.
- In a blender or food processor, blend the spinach and water together until completely smooth. Pass through a sieve to remove the leaves.
- Store your green coloring in an airtight container for up to 6 weeks in the refrigerator.
- Add your Homemade All Natural Food Coloring to icings, frostings or batter. Add more coloring, if necessary.
Can we use tomatoes or strawberries for red food dye and also, is there another fruit or vegetable for the purple food dye
Hello Gemma,
Can we use these colours in a buttercream?
I LOVE THESE HOMEMADE FOOD COLORS, THEY WORK GREAT! ONE QUESTION. WHAT DO YOU USE FOR YELLOW, RED, & ORANGE? ALSO HOW MUCH WATER DO YOU ADD TO THE MIX?
i am assuming this can be frozen. i doubt I woould use it up even in six weeks?
can I use it in royal icing?
Have you used these dyes for Easter eggs?
A very useful article to read. Thanks a lot for sharing this. Fine work. Keep it up.
If using in play dough does it need to be refrigerated
These recipes for the various colors are wonderful–thank you!
Can i reduce the liquid by boiling, to strengthen the colour?