There are, by my count, at least seven levels of fried chicken. The worst of them is good; the best, which I waited forty-four years to find, led to what can only be called an out-of-body experience. Let’s start at …
How to Make Food Coloring at Home
Food coloring is a common ingredient used for specialty baked goods such as cakes. Some individuals prefer homemade food coloring for its natural quality and because the synthetic brands may have toxic ingredients. You can easily make your own food coloring from home using common household or store-bought ingredients. Once you decide the color you would like to make, the process is a cinch. Add this to my Recipe Box.
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Things You'll Need
- Sifter
- Measuring equipment
- Turmeric powder
- Raspberries
- Avocado
- Blueberries
- Blackberries
- Pomegranates
- Beets
- Kashmiri chili powder
- Saffron
- Red tomatoes
- Ground coffee
- Cocoa powder
- Frozen spinach
- Pistachios
Instructions
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Make yellow by incorporating 1 tsp. of turmeric powder to your recipe's mixture. The flavor is neutral and the intensity of the hue can easily be adjusted by simply adding or subtracting the amount powder.
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Make pink by incorporating the juice of fresh or thawed raspberries. Use a sifter when adding the juice so you don't accidentally spill seeds or the flesh of the fruit into the batter.
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Make any pastel color by smashing up half a pitted avocado and mixing it with the batter. Make sure the avocado reaches a smooth consistency so you don't create unwanted lumps.
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Make purple by incorporate the juice of fresh or thawed blueberries or blackberries. This works best if the batter is white or cream-colored.
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Make red by incorporating pomegranate or beet juice. Kashmiri chili powder, saffron or ripe tomatoes also work well. Use caution when incorporating Kashmiri chili powder as this is a spicy ingredient.
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Make brown by incorporating ground coffee granules or cocoa powder. Ground coffee works well for savory items, while cocoa powder should be reserved for baked goods.
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Make green with either thawed or frozen spinach that has been blanched and pureed. You can also make a light green color by soaking pistachios in water before grinding them to make a paste.
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Tips & Warnings
Store any extra juice or powder in a plastic container for later use.
Take into consideration the flavor of the baked or cooked item before applying the food coloring. For instance, if you'd like to make a red tart-flavored cake, pomegranate juice would be appropriate. But if you want to make red mashed potatoes, beet juice would work best.
You can always add additional ingredients to counteract the flavors of the natural food colorings. For instance, if ground coffee granules add a bitter taste to the cake batter, add a bit more sugar until it reaches the sweetness you desire.
To give savory foods color, simply boil a mixture of a handful of natural foods (such as beets or red cabbage) with 1 cup of water. Strain out any lumps or seeds and let the food item (such as sliced potatoes or radish) sit in the cooled mixture until it is the color you want.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit vegetables image by dinostock from Fotolia.com
