How to paint frosting at home. Green food coloring

Friends, I am very glad to present to your attention an article about natural dyes for icing sugar from the graduate of the School site, the author of the project " healthy cuisine» (http://zkuhnya.wixsite.com/zkuhnya), bakers unleavened bread from whole grain flour — Maria Vasilevskaya.

The topic is very relevant. Many people have asked us about this. Therefore, Maria's research on this topic is most welcome.

So, my part is finished and I pass the WORD, or rather the FEATHER, to Mary ...

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What do you think is good about gingerbread? They are delicious, for sure. But gingerbread is also created in order to create a joyful mood. Haven't you noticed how children and adults sincerely rejoice when they are given gingerbread?

Gingerbread "works" even when we just see it: on the master's table, in a shop window, what can I say, even when we look at photos of gingerbread in books or on a computer screen.

And in this magical action, the gingerbread helps him faithful friend - icing, thanks to which he cheerfully tries on colorful outfits. So here they are, two halves of the whole - delicious gingerbread and his colored clothes are icing.

That's what we'll talk about today. Or rather about how to add color to it. Of course, many of you are already baking gingerbread and will say - we know how. Add a little gel food coloring and stir. That's it. All right. But here's a question for you - have you tried to use instead of gel paints natural dyes? By natural we mean those that are created nature itself and man did not bring his technologies into their production. Agree, it will be very nice to treat such gingerbread baby.

I've decided to try it. And what happened as a result of my experiments, you will now find out. I must say right away that the experiments are still ongoing and the topic will be supplemented.

So general:

• Nature does not have "poisonous", oversaturated colors. The shades of the resulting glaze can be called calm, natural, pleasing to the eye with their harmony.
• Glazed gingerbread cookies do not need to be kept in the light, they may lighten a little or change color.
• To get colored glaze with natural dyes, you may need 2 or even 3 times more time than when using gel dyes (it’s better to admit it right away)))
• The resulting range of colors, of course, is not as diverse as when using synthetic food colors, but not so poor either - you can get used to it ...)
• natural dyes often complement the taste of gingerbread and make it even more interesting.

And now to business.

Red

We will not expect bright red, poppy (or New Year's!) colors (at least for now). To obtain "red" shades, you can use the juices of red berries - raspberries, lingonberries, cherries, pomegranates. Squeeze the juice and add it instead of water to the glaze of the base consistency. When the glaze acquires the consistency of a filling, then its color at this moment can be called pink rather than red. The brightest shade (which for me is now the most preferable) is blackcurrant. It is a fairly bright mauve color that is resistant to light and gives the glaze a pleasant berry flavor.

If we need a colored base glaze consistency, for example for contours, then there are 2 options: or we add finely-finely ground dried berry(you can buy industrial grinding or grind it yourself in a coffee grinder) and just a little bit of water, or add juice to the base glaze for coloring, and then again thicken it with powder to become approximately “like the base one”.

Many sources talk about beet juice - fresh or stewed. I did not like this juice for several reasons. It still gives some aftertaste, the shade is lilac, it quickly fades on the finished gingerbread.

Green

Green is my joy. Here we can say that there are no problems with him. To tint the glaze, I use concentrated liquid chlorophyll (you can not concentrated it, there will be a similar effect). In appearance, it looks like brilliant green, a small bottle with a pipette. Dropped a few drops - basic green icing. A few drops plus some water - filling. Less drip - light green color, more - normal green. Chlorophyll provides an almost imperceptible light herbal taste glaze. When eating gingerbread goes unnoticed). Liquid chlorophyll can be purchased at some pharmacies or online. healthy eating. I bought on the site https://ru.iherb.com

This is first.

Secondly, it gives the color rather swampy, dirty. I do not advise.

Yellow

It's more difficult with him. The greatest color, such a good, yellowish, can be obtained by adding turmeric powder to the glaze. If you're looking for a base frosting consistency, turmeric is fine. Add it and some water. We use it for contours or when there is not a lot of such glaze on the gingerbread. The fact is that turmeric gives a flavor that is not needed for gingerbread. If you need a pouring glaze yellow color, then the combination of sea buckthorn juice as a liquid and a little turmeric showed itself well. It turns out a delicious yellowish glaze.

The advice from the Internet - squeezing the juice from the zest of a lemon has been tried. Honestly. But apparently the lemon was not very juicy, no matter how much I pressed, I didn’t get more than a few drops. The advice of adding juice of carrots stewed with butter. But this option also did not take root. Somehow I don't want fried stewed carrots apply to gingerbread. And the color turned pale very quickly at the glaze, literally on the 3rd day.

Blue

I had almost come to terms with the fact that there would be no blue. It won't, and that's it. No where to get it and that's it. But quite unexpectedly, red cabbage came to the rescue. I thought it would be a purple shade, but after mixing with the glaze, the color turned out to be sky blue. I was very glad. I did not feel the cabbage taste, but I did not fill the entire gingerbread with blue icing, only individual details. We need to be careful here, let's try. Still, cabbage is not raspberry, it may have a slight undesirable aftertaste.

Gray or grey-lilac

This is where blueberry juice comes in handy. Mice, elephants, hedgehogs, etc. look good in this color. And only the icing itself will limit us, do not shift the juice so that it is not too liquid.

Brown

To obtain all shades of brown, you can safely use cocoa powder. It turns out very delicious icing, right chocolate. We also get an interesting coffee shade when adding instant coffee. We dilute a little instant coffee in completely small amount water to disperse the granules. And then add this thick mixture to white icing. The coffee gingerbread was also very tasty, like coffee with cream. I wanted to make some kind of gingerbread in the form of a cake or a cup of coffee with this icing ... Compared to cocoa, coffee gives a warmer shade of brown, as if a little yellow had been dropped.

I would be glad if my experiments with natural dyes are useful to you. In any case, this is food for thought. Why not treat the kids to such gingerbread cookies?)

Maria Vasilevskaya

We've all heard of the danger synthetic dyes. But not everyone knows that you can get natural food colors at home.

And now let's take a closer look at the cakes from the store - multi-colored acid-colored curls, gold and silver-colored beads, and many more completely unimaginable decorations.

What is it made of? What is added as dyes? But you can decorate the cake with your own hands, using natural food coloring.

It may not be as bright and beautiful as on cakes from a pastry shop, but it will be no less tasty and safer for health.

Here are some tips about how to make natural dyes without harmful additives.

In order to receive yellow cream take a strong juicy carrots(1-2 pieces), cut it into rings 0.5-0.7 cm thick and fry in butter over low heat until the carrots are soft.

Then knead it or rub it through a strainer and mix with softened butter. Take as much oil as you got a mass of grated carrots. Add paint to the rest of the cream and you can decorate the cake.

Also to get yellow color you can also take juicy yellow pepper, juice yellow boiled beets (light color), juicy pineapple carrot juice, mix turmeric powder with a spoonful of warm water.

green coloration can be obtained by mixing freshly squeezed spinach juice into the cream.

Also green color gives: cabbage, parsley, lettuce, cucumbers, Bell pepper, watercress, boiled green vegetables.

If you have cherries or raspberries - you can get red or pink natural dye for cream. Suitable and cranberries, as well as a decoction of beets.

Beets should be cut finely and placed in a saucepan with acidified water. Do not pour a lot of water, let it cover the beets by 3-4 fingers. Bring beets to a boil, remove from heat, let stand for 1-2 minutes and strain. Environmentally friendly dye is ready. Cool and add to cream.

For getting pink/red also suitable: red pepper, tomato, choose dark red tomatoes, boiled pomegranate juice, sweet paprika powder.

To get Orange color , mix yellow carrot and red beetroot (or berry).

If there is an orange, you can get a bright orange dye by rubbing it on a grater. orange peel and squeeze the juice out of it.

Purple / Blue the color is obtained from: blueberry juice, fresh or boiled red cabbage juice, frozen eggplant skin juice, blackberry juice, and black or purple grape juice.

Cocoa powder will give your cream a pleasant chocolate color.

Natural dyes deteriorate quickly from the action of light and air, so they must be kept closed, in dark glass bottles, in cool place and use it as soon as possible.

Glaze is an invention that literally turned the world of cooking upside down. It is as simple as it is irreplaceable.

The icing is applied to cakes, gingerbread, pastries, sweets, cupcakes, marshmallows, etc. Sweet Mass not only makes them more beautiful and tastier, but also increases energy value. And this despite the fact that, in essence, glaze is a combination of protein and sugar, tinted and brought to a certain consistency.

Miscellaneous additives- juice, cocoa, vanillin, low-fat cream, butter, etc. - make it glossy or matte, sweet or sour, transparent or colored

Be that as it may, colored glaze is not the lot of only professional confectioners. Any housewife can cook it at home.

Colored glaze: basic principles

Prepare colored glaze can be done in two ways: heat treatment and without it, since not all confectionery require baking. The taste of the glaze will differ slightly, the difference is only in technology and ingredients.

1. Glaze in the absence of processing. You will need: powdered sugar, colored fruit or vegetable juice, lemon, egg whites. The powder must first be sifted, mixed with lemon juice and protein. Fruit juice add depending on the desired color. All components should be mixed and applied to baking.

2. Finished glaze. You will need: water, granulated sugar and colored juice. Water with sugar is put on fire and boiled until it begins to thicken. After waiting for the syrup to form in the pan, it is removed and dyed with colored juice. This frosting hardens as it cools.

Colored glaze for painting

This is the most common type. Most often it can be seen in those pastries where you want to draw decorative elements with color. It may seem that such a glaze is similar to what we are used to seeing on Easter cakes, but this is not there. It is important that it is dense, has an even structure and does not crumble.

Ingredients:

Chicken egg protein - one piece or more, depending on the surface for decoration;

Powdered sugar - for one protein 200 grams, then in proportion;

A tablespoon of lemon juice.

Food colorings.

Cooking method:

1. Thoroughly inspect the protein, rid it of excess fibers, otherwise it will ruin the whole thing.

2. Pass the powder through a sieve. Gradually mix with protein, not forgetting to beat. Need to achieve white color.

3. Drop lemon juice and beat for a few more minutes. It is only possible to draw thin lines thick glaze. You can add more powdered sugar.

4. Add dye. Coating is best confectionery syringe, you can use plastic bag or a bag of parchment

Gingerbread colored glaze with vanilla

gingerbread icing translucent. White stains are visible inside. It is she who puts the final touch and makes the gingerbread cookies exactly, and not some other pastries. The composition of the glaze is very simple. Here it is very important to properly prepare and apply.

Ingredients:

A glass of sand;

Half a glass of water;

vanilla powder.

Cooking method:

1. Boil water mixed with granulated sugar until large transparent bubbles appear. This usually happens after the syrup reaches a temperature of more than one hundred degrees.

2. Remove the decoction from the heat and cool. Add vanilla or rum or other flavors. It is applied to gingerbread when it will be possible to dip a finger into the icing without the risk of getting burned.

3. Rugs and gingerbread big size it is better to glaze with a brush. Small ones - immerse completely and pull out with a slotted spoon.

4. Put the products on the wire rack and leave for several hours. Excess glaze will drip off and it will harden.

Professional colored glaze

It is so called because it is widely used by professional confectioners. This type of colored glaze has a dense structure, perfectly retains colors, hardens, but does not peel off or break.

Ingredients:

Almond extract - half a teaspoon. You can buy it in pastry shops;

corn syrup;

Two glasses of sand (you can powder);

Milk in the amount of 4 tablespoons;

Dyes.

Cooking method:

1. Mix thoroughly powdered sugar(or sugar) with milk. You will get a mass that looks like a viscous paste.

2. Add almond extract and corn syrup. Beat until the mass becomes shiny.

3. Arrange the icing in molds. Add dye of the desired color to each. Juice can be used the same way. To draw thin elements, use a syringe, to cover a large area - a brush.

Creamy colored glaze

According to this cooking algorithm, the glaze comes out not particularly hard, but not soft either. It can be dyed or used in in kind.

Ingredients:

Powdered sugar - two glasses;

Cream - a little less sugar;

A spoonful of butter;

Vanilla powder.

Cooking method:

1. Pour the cream into a bowl for cooking. Put the butter in there and heat until it melts.

2. Add powdered sugar and vanilla.

3. Beat with a mixer until the desired consistency is formed. If desired, you can tint with dye.

Fruit colored glaze

The process for making raspberry glaze is described below. In fact, it can be virtually anything: orange, apple, cranberry, strawberry, and even beetroot, carrot, etc. It is important to use only natural juice.

Ingredients:

raspberry juice- half a liter;

Sugar - 650 or 700 grams.

Cooking method:

1. Rub raspberries through a sieve or squeeze with a juicer. You should get pure juice without stones.

2. Boil with sugar so that it turns out thick syrup.

3. Pour into glassware. As it cools, the glaze will begin to thicken. It is important to catch the right moment to apply.

Cookies with colored icing

There are thousands of cookie recipes. Most of them can be applied to any of the types of glaze described above. Housewives usually like to decorate with colored icing children's cookies, baked especially for the holidays. Bright and colorful slices are pleasing to the eye and create a festive atmosphere on the table.

Ingredients:

Flour - 3 cups;

Powdered sugar or granulated sugar - 1.5 cups;

baking powder- one and a half spoons;

soft butter for cookies and a quarter cup for glaze;

Low-fat cream - 3 tablespoons;

Salt, vanilla;

Cooking method:

1. Mix dry ingredients, add butter, eggs. Cool down.

2. Knead a small piece of text, roll it out to a thickness of 8 mm. Cut into pieces and arrange them on a baking sheet.

3. Bake at 200 degrees. Cool down after baking.

4. Mix cream, milk, butter and sugar. Beat until the mixture becomes thick and homogeneous. Add dyes if necessary.

5. Dip the biscuit pieces into the icing and leave to harden.

Yogurt cake with colored icing

The glaze here is raspberry, although you can use different tastes depending on the yogurt that will form the basis of the pie.

Ingredients:

Flour - three glasses;

Thick raspberry yogurt- two glasses;

Two glasses of powder or sand;

chicken egg;

For glaze:

Freshly squeezed juice - a large cup;

200 grams of sand;

A tablespoon of semolina.

Cooking method:

1. Mix flour with soda, add soda. Separately, add eggs, at the end - yogurt. Mix everything so that the consistency is homogeneous.

2. Put the dough in a pan or in a mold and bake at 180 degrees.

3. Squeeze juice from raspberries. Add sugar to it and boil. Put semolina and cook for a few more minutes, so that the glaze acquires its final density.

4. Cool the pie and pour over the icing. So that it does not drain, you can not cool it, but immediately after application put it in the oven for two minutes.

Orange scones with colored citrus icing

This dessert is perfect for breakfast. It is light, very tasty, everything else, completely natural.

Ingredients:

One and a half glasses of flour and sugar. Flour can then be added;

Melted butter - about 100 grams;

Milk or cream of low fat content - a little less glass;

orange and lemon zest;

Baking powder and salt.

For glaze:

Powder - a glass;

Orange juice - 2-3 tablespoons;

Cooking method:

1. Pour baking powder into flour, salt, add sugar and butter. Chop and mix everything.

2. Peel off the fruit. Squeeze out lemon juice;

3. Pour cream, lemon juice into the first mixture and put finely chopped zest. Knead the dough thoroughly.

4. Form a cake rectangular shape. Cut it into 6 pieces. Each will be in the shape of a square. Cut the squares diagonally, and the resulting triangles - again in half. Please note that during baking, the scones will increase noticeably.

5. Bake triangles for about half an hour.

6. Peel the orange and squeeze the juice out of it. Mix juice, zest and powdered sugar. The mixture should be similar in consistency to sour cream. You can adjust the density with powder.

7. Spoon frosting onto scones. After a few minutes it will harden, dessert can be eaten.

Homemade peanuts in colored glaze

A delicacy known to everyone since childhood does not have to be bought in a store. It can be easily and very quickly prepared at home.

Ingredients:

Peanuts - the desired amount. Standard - half a kilo;

Corn starch- a tablespoon.

Granulated sugar- a tablespoon;

Cooking method:

1. Fry the nuts in a pan without oil. Can be dried in microwave oven or oven.

2. Pour sugar into the pan and add water. You should get a syrup, which must be boiled until thick.

3. Pour peanuts into the syrup. Add starch and mix thoroughly.

4. If necessary, add food coloring, then the glaze will be colored.

5. Cool down.

1. In order not to roll off the surface, the glaze should not be liquid or thick. You can regulate this with sugar, juice or water. Flowing glaze is good for watering cookies, donuts, pies. A thick one is used for drawing, as well as to glue parts together, for example, in gingerbread houses.

2. Powder is not necessary to buy in ready-made. You can make it at home by grinding sugar in a coffee grinder. It takes a few minutes to grind. After opening the lid, a light smoke should escape from the inside. It is better to sift the resulting powder, this will save it from lumps.

3. Great alternative water can become lemon juice. It can also be used to remove excessive sweetness in taste if the pastries accidentally turn out to be too cloying.

4. The smoothest and most uniform glaze is obtained if eggs are added to the composition, and not only the protein, but also the yolk. They add shade, make colored glaze dense. However, it is best to dry it in the oven, although sometimes this is not mentioned in the recipe. Salmonella, which so scare lovers raw eggs, dies already at 70 degrees.

5. If the surface of the cake or cake is smeared with jam before applying the glaze, it will lie very evenly, in addition, it will acquire a noticeable shine.

6. If chocolate is included in the glaze, then it is better to take classic rather than porous. One tablespoon of cocoa can greatly increase the consistency of the taste.

7. Food coloring is the most easy way color the frosting. It also has the longest shelf life. finished product. However, you can give the desired color without the use of chemistry. For example, by adding jam, which, moreover, is also fragrant. If you want a bright orange glaze, then the best dye is turmeric mixed with a piece of butter.

Natural food colorings - easy, environmentally friendly and useful 95% of the information a person perceives with the help of the eyes, and making a dish brighter means making it more attractive. So, juicy burgundy color of borscht or colorful salad definitely stimulate the appetite. It is on this that the demand for food coloring in cooking is based.

For thousands of years, people have successfully used the gifts of nature, extracting food colors from them. Now we have incomparably more opportunities for such research - let's see how you can prepare natural food colors at home and what requirements we have for them.

Requirement 1 - Natural dye

Exclusively natural materials- extracts, pomace and juices, decoctions and tinctures from seeds and fruits of plants, from leaves and bark. Animal materials are not used to color food - because of the strong characteristic taste, because of the difficulty of obtaining and because of short term storage.

Requirement 2 - Food coloring means edible

This requirement implies not only the edibility of the dye, but also a minimum of its own taste. Ideally, the dye should be completely tasteless ( onion peel) or add some zest along with the color (citrus zest or coffee). The taste of the coloring should not affect the taste of the final product, but this is difficult to implement in reality - and a separate problem when using natural colors is the result of mixing flavors and aromas.

Requirement 3 - Coloring food

This requirement includes durability and invariability of color - at least for a short time, although natural dyes definitely lose out to synthetic ones in these parameters.

How to make natural food coloring at home

The beauty of natural food colors is their availability. These are the foods that we eat almost every day, familiar and healthy, inexpensive and accessible. Beets, carrots, spinach, spices, bright berries and citrus fruits - this is our rich arsenal at home.

The answer to the question “what to make natural food colors from” is at hand in every kitchen.
We can use:
1. Freshly squeezed juices from colored foods.
2. Shredded and fried their pulp.
3. Direct addition of fresh pulp to the final product.
Feel free to focus on the original color of the vegetable or fruit: if the beets are already dark red, then we will not get an orange or green dye from it. Respectively, green spinach won't give us red dye, no matter what we do with it.
However, since natural dyes the same principles of mixing paints apply as with watercolors, gouache or synthetic dyes. If you want orange dye, mix red and yellow. Need green - mix yellow and blue food coloring.

How to Get Red Food Coloring and Pink Food Coloring

Beets and fresh red berries (raspberries, lingonberries, cherries) serve as sources to help get red food coloring and pink food coloring.
Contrary to popular belief, beets will not give us a rich red color - depending on the concentration, we will get shades from pale pink to burgundy. Grate fresh beets on a fine grater and simmer them in a small amount water over low heat. When the beets are stewed and "give up color", squeeze the liquid through cheesecloth or a fine sieve. For a more vibrant and long-lasting color, add half a teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice.
For a pure red, use freshly squeezed lingonberry juice, but don't forget its characteristic sour taste.
Raspberries will give various shades of pinkish and raspberry, cherry - darker shades of red.
If you use such natural dyes for cream, a few drops of juice will be enough to give an interesting shade.

Dye blue natural food

A pleasant blue and blue color is obtained using blueberries, blueberries or red cabbage. It is most convenient to crush blueberries or blueberries in a sieve or mesh colander and add the resulting natural blue food coloring to cream or dough.
Red cabbage juice gives an interesting blue or blue color. It is good to paint with this boiled juice egg white and decorate their salads.

yellow food coloring

Carrots, sea buckthorn, turmeric, saffron, citrus fruits give sunny shades of yellow and orange. Carrots are the most affordable option: grate on a fine grater bright carrot and fry it over low heat vegetable oil. Squeeze the resulting slurry through gauze or through a thick sieve.
Sea buckthorn berry juice can be added to creams or dough, it will give us the same cheerful yellow tint.
You can find turmeric in any spice department, that too. a good option receive YELLOW FOOD DYE. Pour a tablespoon of dry powder warm water or alcohol, hold for a day in a dark place and strain. Turmeric - a budget option saffron, she does not give such amazing taste, but works very well as a food coloring.

Green food coloring

The soft green color gives us spinach. There are two options: - use freshly squeezed juice of leaves and stems - stew chopped spinach in water and then rub the gruel through a thick sieve.
Spinach green food coloring is often used to color dough.

Synthetic dyes and their invented harm

The volume of consumption of dyes is growing year by year, the requirements for quality and safety food coloring are growing even faster - and manufacturers are simply forced to meet the needs of buyers.
The prototypes for many synthetic dyes are natural dyes. So, for example, curcumin or carotene are almost identical in composition to natural ones. In addition, the quality and safety of synthetic food colors is controlled by the WHO International Commission; all permitted for use are included in the Food Code - a code of quality standards food products and semi-finished products, which include nutritional supplements.

Synthetic nutritional supplements are easier to use than natural ones, do not require pre-training And special conditions storage, can be stored for a long time and definitely will not change the taste of the cream or dough.
If you want to get not just pleasant shades, but bright natural colors- we offer you all currently available types of food coloring: dry, gel, liquid.

Proven manufacturers, guaranteed fresh and high-quality products, huge selection useful and pleasant little things for cooking - a supermarket for confectioners will do everything to make the cooking process a real pleasure for you.

As a rule, visitors to restaurants and cafes pay attention not only to the taste of the dishes served, but also to how they are decorated. Therefore, chefs try to decorate this or that dish as best as possible. Most attention in this case given to sweets and desserts. At home, you can also create various patterns from cream and sprinkles.

It's best to learn how to make food coloring at home instead of buying it from the store. The result will be no worse, besides, it is not dangerous to health. This homemade dye is used to color sauces, jellies, mastic, cream and more.

What are food colorings?

Food coloring comes in both synthetic and natural colors. In turn, synthetic are divided into liquid, dry and gel. diluted in a small amount of liquid to give the dish the desired shade.

Powdered dyes are diluted boiled water, alcohol or vodka, and also, if desired, applied to baked goods in a dry form. Protein mass to create patterns and creams, as a rule, they are colored with liquid dyes. They are quite often used in airbrushes or in sugar mastic as a water substitute.

Liquid food coloring is very similar to gel food coloring, but the latter is thicker and more concentrated. It is used in the coloring of creams (only non-protein ones), glazes, mastics and doughs. With the help you can create both delicate shades and rich and bright colors.

How to get natural red dye

Such a dye can be obtained using the juice of berries, fruits and vegetables that contain red, it can be:

• beet;
• strawberry;
• currant;
• pomegranate and other food products.

But you can get red food coloring not only from fruits, try using dark red tomatoes, red peppers and paprika powder for this purpose. But nevertheless the most beautiful colour obtained from beets.

You can get red dye from beetroot as follows:

• Thoroughly wash the root crop under running water, peel, and then grate. Fill the beets with water. You don't need much liquid, it should only cover the grated vegetable. Put on slow fire and cook for an hour.
• Please note that the pan must be covered with a lid. Add a little to the broth citric acid(1/2 teaspoon), this will keep it from discoloring. After cooling, the red food coloring should be strained and then can be used.

How to make black food coloring

Black food coloring can be obtained in several ways:

• First way. Mix five drops of purified glycerin with an activated charcoal tablet.

• The second way is how to make black food coloring at home. Black color can be obtained by mixing artificial dyes of several colors. For example, take food coloring red, yellow and blue color and mix thoroughly - you will end up with a black color.
• The third way is how to make black food coloring at home. Take cuttlefish ink. Get them in Lately quite easily, they are sold in almost every large hypermarket. But despite the fact that the ink has practically no taste, there is still a certain specific aftertaste, and therefore it is not recommended to use such black food coloring for mastic or other sweet dishes.

How is egg dye made?

Yellow food coloring (recipe): add turmeric (3 tablespoons) to the boiling vinegar solution. Remember that turmeric stains the skin quite strongly, so before you start working with this dye, be sure to wear rubber gloves to protect your hands from staining.

Pink color: Chop 4 cups of raw beets and add them to the egg bowl. If the eggs don't look pink at first, but brown, don't be discouraged. After they dry, they will become a nice pastel shade.

Food coloring for eggs of blue color done like this: add 3 cups of chopped purple or red cabbage to the solution. In order for the eggs to become blue, they should be held in the solution for half an hour. If you want to achieve a blue color, then put the eggs in the refrigerator and let them stand there in the solution all night.

Orange color: Onion skins give eggs a beautiful orange hue (four cups). To get more bright color, then, as in the previous case, without removing the eggs from the dye, leave them overnight in the refrigerator.

DIY silver food coloring: place 2 cups of frozen blueberries in a bowl and add 2 cups to it clean water. Wait for the mixture to warm up to room temperature, and then crush the berries. Let stand a little more, then strain the solution. Put in dye Easter eggs and put in the refrigerator - let them stay there until the morning.

Beige dye

To make your own food coloring beige colour you should use tomato paste. Color saturation depends on the amount this product, for example, if you add a lot of tomato to the cream, then it will become more orange than beige. tomato paste does not change the taste of the dessert.

If you have prepared several different natural dyes in advance, then if you wish, you can create new colors from them. To do this, you only need to mix the existing ones. For example, to get the color of the sea wave, you should mix two dyes: green and blue, and for a blue tint, you need to add green to red. When you mix red, blue and green, you get black. A beautiful pistachio shade can be achieved by mixing blue and yellow dyes.

Yellow

To color the dish yellow, chefs most often use lemon. The zest of the lemon is rubbed fine grater, and then juice is squeezed out of it, which turns into liquid food coloring. Dissolved in warm water turmeric also gives a beautiful yellow tint.

Green color

To get a rich green color, most often use fresh spinach. It is crushed in a meat grinder or rubbed through a sieve. Then the mixture is boiled for 30 minutes, after which it is filtered.

Blue and purple colors

Such colors can be obtained from blueberries, dark grapes, or eggplant skins. Can also be used for this purpose purple cabbage, which is pre-cut and boiled. With the help of sugar, you can get a brown color. To do this, sugar is mixed with water (5: 1) and placed in a pan. Do small fire and fry the sugar, remembering to stir it constantly. Gradually, the mixture begins to acquire a brown tint. Add some more water to it and strain. In addition to sugar, brown can be obtained using cocoa, coffee or chocolate.

Why are artificial colors harmful?

To date, produced a large number of artificial dyes, which are used in order to give dishes an attractive look. But it is not always known what exactly is part of these synthetic dyes. It often happens that their composition can only be determined through long-term laboratory studies.

Not in all cases, manufacturers are ready to comply with standards, and often hazardous components in dyes exceed allowed content. They can not only cause allergies in people, but also have a negative effect on nervous system, cause oxygen starvation and, worst of all, provoke the formation of tumors. Therefore, it is better not to use such products at all, but instead learn how to make food coloring at home.

Conclusion

There are two types of food coloring: synthetic and natural. The first of them are most often made from chemical ingredients, so it is wiser to give preference to natural ones. Natural food colorings are made from herbal ingredients(usually vegetables and fruits).

Such dyes can be created independently at home and used to decorate all kinds of dishes.