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Baked goods and processed foods are often made with eye-catching food dyes. But studies have shown that these food dyes contain harmful ingredients linked to health problems like cancer.

Protect your family from harmful synthetic food coloring by learning how to make non-toxic DIY food coloring using natural ingredients like fruits and vegetables.

Potential health risks of food dye

Studies are still ongoing to determine the effects and potential risks of food dyes on human health.

While the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) once approved at least 91 food dyes, many have been banned once studies confirmed their negative effects in lab tests. This isn’t too surprising since food dyes are synthesized from coal tar or petroleum.

Even other food dyes currently approved by the FDA can still have some negative effects. According to a study, all nine U.S.-approved food dyes are associated with health risks. Results showed that Red 3 causes cancer in animals and Red 40, Yellow 5 and Yellow 6 may be contaminated with carcinogens.

“The inadequacy of much of the testing and the evidence for carcinogenicity, genotoxicity, and hypersensitivity, coupled with the fact that dyes do not improve the safety or nutritional quality of foods, indicates that all of the currently used dyes should be removed from the food supply and replaced, if at all, by safer colorings,” warned researchers.

Other studies also suggest that food dyes may cause health problems in children such as:

• Adrenal and kidney issues
• Allergic reactions
• Hyperactivity, and behavioral problems

Even if some food dyes are safe to consume in smaller quantities, a lot of products contain levels of food dye high enough to be considered harmful.

Avoid foods with artificial food dyes

Steer clear of harmful food dyes by avoiding junk food and processed foods. Doing this ensures that you consume less processed and high-sugar foods.

Products that contain dangerous food dye include:

• Baked goods
• Breakfast cereals
• Boxed food mixes
• Cake and bread mixes
• Cheese
• Flavored applesauce
• Flavored yogurt
• Hot sauce
• Ice cream
• Pickles
• Pudding
• Salad dressing
• Salsa
• Smoked salmon
• Sports drinks

Food dyes are also used in products like mouthwash, toothpaste, and vitamins.

DIY food coloring recipes

Check out the recipes below to make food dyes that you can mix and match while making baked goods or other dishes that require food coloring.

Pink and red food coloring

Beets are often used to make pink or red food dyes. Alternatively, you can use pomegranate juice or liquid strained from pulverized raspberries. But these fruits will change the flavor of your dish recipe more than beets.

To make red dye with beets, use some of the liquid from canned beets. Another option is to boil or juice raw beets and use the resulting liquid to dye cake batter or frosting.

When using the liquid from boiled beets, bring the beets to a boil before reducing the heat and simmer until the beets are tender. Use the remaining liquid as a red or pink dye.

To make pink batter, frosting, or icing, add a teaspoon of beet juice. For a darker pink hue, add more beet juice.

Yellow and orange food coloring

To make yellow or orange food coloring, try experimenting with golden beets or turmeric.

Use turmeric straight by stirring the powdered form into icing or dough. Follow the recipe below if you want to make a more traditional dye.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1/2 cup of water

Preparation:

1. Dissolve one teaspoon of turmeric in half a cup of water.
2. In a pot on the stove, bring the turmeric mixture to a boil until it’s reduced by half.
3. Use several drops of the mixture to make things yellow. Add more if you want to make things orange.

Alternatively, you can use pulverized mangoes.

Saffron works too, but it’s more expensive than turmeric. When using saffron, don’t add too much because it will overpower other flavors in your dish.

For a deeper orange, use carrot juice.

Green food coloring

This recipe uses spinach to make green icing.

Ingredients:

• 1 pint of organic heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups of spinach
• 1/4 cup of whole cane sugar

Preparation:

1. Puree the spinach, whole cane sugar and whipping cream until you can’t see any spinach pieces floating in the mixture.
2. Pour the mixture into a chilled metal bowl. Whip using the metal whisk attachment if your mixer has one.
3. Whip on high until stiff peaks form in the icing.

You can also use these ingredients to make green food coloring:

• Liquid chlorophyll from a health food store
• Matcha powder
• Parsley juice
• Spirulina powder
• Wheatgrass juice

Blue and purple food coloring

Follow the recipe below to make blue or purple food coloring from red cabbage or radicchio.

Ingredients: 

• Half a head of red cabbage
• Water
• Baking Soda

Preparation: 

1. Wash the cabbage and cut out the stem. Chop the cabbage into small pieces.
2. Place the cabbage in a pot and add enough water to cover the cabbage. Simmer the cabbage for 10 minutes and drain the water. Stop here if you need purple dye. Continue to step three to make blue dye.
3. Slowly add baking soda half a teaspoon at a time, until the liquid turns blue. Note that baking soda will add flavor to the coloring. If you’re using the blue dye for something edible, don’t add too much baking soda. The alkaline quality of the baking soda makes the red cabbage juice blue, but you can also add spinach juice, green tea, or another alkaline ingredient.

The color in the cabbage juice itself isn’t particularly sensitive to temperature, but the mixture with the baking soda is. When using the blue cabbage dye, add the color after the food item has cooled or only add it to food items that won’t be heated.

Avoid eating junk food and processed foods made with harmful artificial food dyes.

Instead, learn how to make natural food dyes so you can cook colorful meals without any dangerous chemicals.

Sources:

FoodRevolution.org

LeitesCulinaria.com

TheSpruceEats.com

EdiblePerspective.com

WholeNewMom.com