Saturday, July 24, 2010

Natural Food coloring

HOW TO MAKE FOOD COLORING:

Cooking delicious food is not enough. It is much more important to make the dishes look appetizing as well. In fact, it is the appearance as well as the aroma of food that attracts people, especially kids to it, in the very first instance. It is only later that they get to explore its taste. Coloring plays a great role in making a food item look tempting. Just a pinch of edible food color added to your recipe can do wonders in making it look very enticing. For the purpose, synthetic food coloring of innumerable brands are available in the market. However, such food colors have chances of containing toxic ingredients, so it is better to avoid them altogether. Rather, you should make use of natural food coloring, made at home. In order to help you out, we have listed ideas on how to make food coloring, in the lines below.

NATURAL FOOD COLORING IDEAS:

If you want to give yellow color to any food item, make use of 1 tsp, or more, of stale turmeric powder. It is fairly flavor neutral and is often used to give an "eggy" shade to vegan puddings and tofu scrambles.

For adding a blush or pale pink color to any food, make use of the juice of fresh, thawed or frozen raspberries.

Pastel shades can be acquired by mixing in avocado to a dish. Take a small avocado and mash half of it, until creamy, before mixing it with your recipe.

In case raspberry purple is the color you desire, make use of blueberries or blackberries. Using a sieve, mash the juice from fresh or thawed frozen blueberries and use it for coloring. You can also use fresh or thawed frozen blackberries for the purpose.

Pomegranate juice or dried, powdered, boiled and unsalted red beets are perfect for adding red color to any food item.

In order to get a brown color, instant coffee granules or cocoa powder is what you need to add.

If green color is what you desire, go for thawed or frozen spinach that has been blanched and pureed.

Kashmiri chili powder (red chili powder that contains more redness than normal) is the perfect fit for giving a firing red color to your recipes.

Making use of the puree of bright red tomatoes can give a reddish tinge to your food.

Saffron is a great herb that gives a crimson touch to the food and gives a nice flavor too. You may make use of saffron in two ways - either mix it with half a teaspoon of milk (for crimson color) or combine it with water (for blood red color).

For a light green color in your food, soak pistachios in water and then grind them to make a paste. This would be the best bet for puddings and desserts.

Sugar, when caramelized, gives a brownish tinge and rich flavor to puddings. Use caramelized sugar in moderation, to enhance the color of your hot puddings.
 
(Found here)

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