Food dye is in so many things and it really has only one purpose and that is just for looks. Did you know that food dye is really bad for you for many different reasons? It is really easy to make your own natural coloring and I think it looks prettier and not fake like regular food dye.
My mom wrote an article on food dye a couple years ago and you can read that here. But I just want to give you few reasons you should leave it out of your food! Food dyes come from petroleum. I wasn’t sure what that meant so I had to look it up and believe me it isn’t something you want in your food. Petroleum is also used in gasoline, diesel fuel, asphalt, and tar. There are so many studies out there showing the negative affects from food dye on our health and our brains.
If you want to color your food then do it yourself and do it the healthy way. I think the natural colors are much prettier than the fake color of food dyes.
If you are making your own frosting recipe, here is the buttercream frosting we make that is casein free, here. You can follow any of the directions below to make a rainbow of colors that won’t make you sick.
Natural Food Dye Alternatives
There are many options for you to color your food naturally, you can even get creative and try to make up some of your own.
1. Buy your own natural food coloring. This is a really good one:
CONTAINS: 1 Blue, 1 Pink, and 1 Yellow color packet (2.5g – 2 tsp each)
TO USE: 1 color packet per pint of frosting. Enough for up to a dozen cupcakes.
Color mixing, make your own hues:
Green: bright blue + yellow
Purple: bright blue + pink (beet red)
Red: pink (beet red) + pinch of yellow
Orange: yellow + pinch of pink (beet red)
2. Make your own natural food coloring:
When making your own if you are wanting deeper colors you want to use powders instead of liquids.
Pink –Freeze Dried Raspberries crushed into powder (this is what is pictured above on our cupcakes) – use 1 to 2 tsp powder to 1 cup icing. Or Hibiscus Powder – 1 to 2 tsp for every 1 cup of icing.
Red – Beet powder – 1 to 2 teaspoons beet powder for every 1 cup of icing.
Orange – Carrot powder 1 to 2 tsp to every cup of icing.
Yellow –Turmeric – 1/4 cup water and a 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
Green – 1 cup spinach, fresh or frozen and 3 tablespoons water. Or Matcha Powder – 1 to 2 teaspoons matcha for every 1 cup icing.
Blue – 1/4 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen and 2 teaspoons water. Or Blue Butterfly Pea Powder
Brown – Coffee, Tea or Cocoa
Black – Activated Charcoal
Ingredients-Black Frosting
3/4 cup organic ghee, softened – homemade ghee here
2 ½ cups organic powdered sugar
2 tsp. all natural almond flavor
1 tsp. organic vanilla extract
1 T. food grade raw activated charcoal
2-3 tsp. water
This is a video that came out just this year on chemicals in food coloring.
Are the Chemicals in Food Coloring Bad For Children? Video July 23, 2018
To learn more about food dye see the below links:
- US National Library of Medicine: Coal Tar
- Color Me Crazy – Artificial Coal Tar Dyes
- Organic Trade Association: Consumers can choose organic products to avoid synthetic food dyes
- Center for Science in the Public Interest, Food Dyes: A Rainbow of Risks
- The New York Times, F.D.A. Panel to Consider Warnings for Artificial Food Colorings
- Science, Behavioral responses to artificial food colors
- Center for Science in the Public Interest’s Petition to Ban the Use of Yellow 5 and Other Food Dyes
