Food colorings: Red 40 and friends...
So, my organic chemistry class was doing a lab on chromatography (with spinach and some other dyes). We had to do a little 'research' beforehand about tartrazine and other food colorants, and...
I had no idea they were derived from coal tar! :o Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1... :-\ Gross. And with questionable health effects. I knew that there was something off about them, but I didn't know what. At least they're vegan... I guess.
And the other day I was looking for some black food coloring for my halloween cookies, and there was Red #3: erythrosine. I haven't been able to find any answers, but by the sound of the name this is the food coloring that infamously comes from blood (erythrocyte = red blood cell). Does anyone know? ... I settled for purple gel.
And, I hate I hate I hate finding carmine in things. It's in the otherwise-vegan English Skittles. And in any red-like Sobe drinks. And probably in other untold amounts of food. Source: bugs.
Does anyone have natural food colorings out there? Are they just as good as the tar ones? Less concentrated, color is different, etc?
I've seen red, blue, and yellow 'natural' food colorings at health food stores but I've never used them nor have I completely checked out the ingredients of them.
I've never found natural food coloring anywhere, and I searched around a great deal. I really good way to color red =beets or raspberries; purple-ish blue =blue berries; light brown=molasses, vanilla extract or maple syrup; yellow=dandelions (i haven't perfected this yet, if you use too many it leaves _____baked good tasting kind of soapy.....too little and it's not yellow enough)
The vegan bakery in the town I used to live in used "chlorophyll" to color things green. Where the crap they got that I have NO clue. I've been thinking about using some type or leafy green, because I know they are undetectable in smoothies (atleast the mild-er ones), but I dont know if it will leave ______baked good have little bits of gross stringy green gunk in it.
All of the above (beets/raspberries, blue berries, molasses/vanilla/maple syrup) work particularly well in frostings, where there's sooooo much sugar the little bit of juice/fruit puree doesn't add too much noticable flavor.
I've never found natural food coloring anywhere, and I searched around a great deal. I really good way to color red =beets or raspberries; purple-ish blue =blue berries; light brown=molasses, vanilla extract or maple syrup; yellow=dandelions (i haven't perfected this yet, if you use two many it leaves _____baked good tasting kind of soapy.....too little and it's not yellow enough)
The vegan bakery in the town I used to live in used "chlorophyll" to color things green. Where the crap they got that I have NO clue. I've been thinking about using some type or leafy green, because I know they are undetectable in smoothies (atleast the mild-er ones), but I dont know if it will leave ______baked good have little bits of gross stringy green gunk in it.
All of the above (beets/raspberries, blue berries, molasses/vanilla/maple syrup) work particularly well in frostings, where there's sooooo much sugar the little bit of juice/fruit puree doesn't add too much noticable flavor.
hmm... sounds like a good idea with the berries. I knew they stain my cutting board, why not frosting?
As for green, in our lab we ground spinach leaves with hexanes and acetone to get the chlorophylls and beta carotene... not exactly something you'd want to eat =/... might work in ethyl alcohol? But, it would be awesome if there was some at-home way to separate the pigments, because it would give you that yellow you're look for (the carotene), plus a light and dark green (chlorophylls). You'd think that store-bought green food coloring would be made from chlorophyll considering its abundance, but I'm pretty sure it's a blue 1/tartrazine mixture >:(
Since I'm making halloween sugar cookies, I'll either have to suck it up and use the tar-green or have my pumpkin stems taste like spirulina or matcha. Mmm...?
Here are a couple of sites that have all natural food colors. Pricey, but worth reading their ingredients to possibly make your own.
http://www.naturesflavors.com/default.php?cPath=72
http://www.seelecttea.com/index.php?cPath=41
** Edit** As far as green coloring (some other sites I read after googling "natural food colorings" say they use algea to get the chlorophyll- that could get expensive)-- why not make your blue and yellow colors then combine together to get color of green desired?
OK, here's the skinny. Our local HFS carries Seelect brand natural food colorings. I have several of them, and use them for frostings, etc. They are lots of fun for 4 year olds like my daughter and her friends (who have never seen the brightly colored fake kind)!
*So, these colors are not like the fake ones- much more natural looking.
*The red and blue both look kind of "purple" so you could probably buy one or the other!
*The orange and yellow look pretty much like the actual colors.
*The berry extracted flavors will make whatever you are dying taste like that berry if you use too much of it! Which can be ok, if it works with what you are making.
So, if you let go of the need to have vivid colors that are really true to that color, these are a great alternative and obviously way healthier and guilt-free!! :)
Ok.....I can't say too much that hasn't already been said about the colors but ........you have an organic chemisty class????!!!!!!! Holy moly! How is that different from the standard? I never heard or an "organic" chemistry class. Wow!!
Ok.....I can't say too much that hasn't already been said about the colors but ........you have an organic chemisty class????!!!!!!! Holy moly! How is that different from the standard? I never heard or an "organic" chemistry class. Wow!!
Organic--in a chemistry sense--deals with substances containing carbon. Gasoline, for example, is made from organic molecules.
Yea, I was just going to add that organic chemistry is a specific area of study within the general heading "chemistry." It just deals with studying structure, properties, composition, reactions, preparation, and so on of various compounds. As ashleykimball mentioned, mainly they study carbon. But, there's other things you can shove into that discipline too, lol.
It's not like organic as in Whole Foods organic. :)
Green=Spirulina
Yea, I was just going to add that organic chemistry is a specific area of study within the general heading "chemistry." It just deals with studying structure, properties, composition, reactions, preparation, and so on of various compounds. As ashleykimball mentioned, mainly they study carbon. But, there's other things you can shove into that discipline too, lol.
It's not like organic as in Whole Foods organic. :)
Though it would be interesting if we had a Chemistry of Organic Foods class. I'd take it, if I actually had time =p!
And the other day I was looking for some black food coloring for my halloween cookies, and there was Red #3: erythrosine. I haven't been able to find any answers, but by the sound of the name this is the food coloring that infamously comes from blood (erythrocyte = red blood cell). Does anyone know? ... I settled for purple gel.
Umm. No. They just both get their name from Greek. Erythros = "red".
I don't think I even want to know what was in the fluorescent food coloring I noticed in the baking aisle of a large grocery store chain just last week. :o
Orange rind succesfully colors things orange!!!! wooo!
Orange rind succesfully colors things orange!!!! wooo!
whoah, but how do you use it for color? Do you just mix in the zest or do you magically juice it somehow or...?
I'm gonna have to try all these natural tricks when I go home for winter. I'll have to make some gay pride cupcakes to test everything out!
i miss organic chemistry :(. actually, i think biochemistry was my favorite! chemistry is fun!
Did anyone in the class mention that food colorings receive a # after a significant amount of compaints (of cancer - etc.) have been reported to the FDA?
Orange rind succesfully colors things orange!!!! wooo!
whoah, but how do you use it for color? Do you just mix in the zest or do you magically juice it somehow or...?
I'm gonna have to try all these natural tricks when I go home for winter. I'll have to make some gay pride cupcakes to test everything out!
Just grate the rind REALLY finely and add it to what you want to color (in my case white icing)
Did anyone in the class mention that food colorings receive a # after a significant amount of compaints (of cancer - etc.) have been reported to the FDA?
:o :o :o :o
do you have a source?
You might 1-2 try the FDA themselves(?) - Otherwise, I could possibly check through some resources this, or next week. Also, baypuppy, feel welcome to let me know what the FDA says (if you check).
i miss organic chemistry :(. actually, i think biochemistry was my favorite! chemistry is fun!
For real...? You're the only human being I know with this opinion. And for that, I applaud you.
I volunteered at a cat hospital last summer, and I got to know the vets, and they asked the usually student-questions, e.g. what classes I took, which one's I'm taking. I mentioned that I'd be taking ochem that fall (now) and they both gasped (!) and said something about how difficult it was. The other added, much to my comfort, that biochemistry is even worse :-[ This is coming from veterinarians!
Ochem's all right. It takes a lot of work to wrap my head around it, which I'm not used to, but so far I'm doing fine... chiral compounds almost got me though :o Stupid chiral compounds without asymmetric centers. What's up with that?
(sorry if that just sounded like blah blah blah chemistry blah blah blah compounds...etc)
Alright folks, here are the FDA regulations concerning color additives:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/col-cfr.html
And here is the (I'm not even kidding) official Color Additives website. Should this go in FAQ, seems we get a decent amount of food coloring questions around here:
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/col-toc.html
Bad news folks: looks like all the FDA-approved # dyes have had copious animal testing. Score one for natural, plant-based dyes. A new Black #3 for mascara, etc. is burnt cattle bones :P
As best I can tell, the number system is based on when each one was approved. For instance, Red #2 was approved, then the next red dye that made it through the cetification process was called Red #3. Very creative these FDA folks.
Okay, now I agree with BP - time to get some shut eye.
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