Food Coloring

Guide Note

Food coloring is an ingredient that can be added to food or other items to enhance or add color. Food coloring can be homemade or commercially produced, naturally derived, or made from synthetic materials. All food coloring is edible, though some people may have a sensitivity to food coloring. Food coloring dyes food and drinks, and can be used in crafts projects also.

Fast Facts

1. Natural food coloring can be found in vegetables, fruits, and minerals
2. Food coloring can be found in beverages such as Kool-Aid
3. Blue foods are not often found in nature

Food coloring is used in almost every type of food situation. Home cooks use it to dye easter eggs, cake frosting, and make certain foods more deeply colored, such as red velvet cake, or key lime pie. Food manufacturers use food colors to create fantastic colors for candy, soda, and chips, but food coloring can also be added to fresh foods to give them a more "natural" look, or to give the consumer what they expect, like more orange oranges. Food dyes often show up on food labels with a number next to them; these are commercially produced dyes approved by the FDA.

1. Beets
2. Sugar, when caramelized
3. Saffron
4. Turmeric
5. Squid ink