natural food coloring

Posted by Gina on Jun 10, 2009

I am diabetic and have a passion for baking low sugar cakes and pastries. Prefer to have some color to them. Find it impossible to locate any certified organic food colors. Yes, I have used concentrated juices from pomegranate, blackberries, blueberries but the hues do not have the intensity I seek. Even caramel flavoring and color is artificially created from a corn base with or without ammonia and sulfites or synthetically made from acetone. Any suggestions? Thank you. - Louise

I did  some research and found this website and then this one. Both sites offer all natural vegetable food colorings. The ingredients are listed and they seem like the real deal. They don’t feature the standard “artificial color” and use beets, carrots and other plants to create the colors. It is not clear if they are completely organic, but I think  they are definite improvements on all the artificial colorings available. Both sites clearly state that the coloring may impart some flavor to your end product and that applying heat to these colors could change the hue. I think they could best be used in icings and glazes to create vibrantly colored cakes and pastries.

I have never worked with this kind of product before, but the reviews some folks have written on these sites seem like a helpful guide in getting started. I am curious to hear how they work for you and would like to try them myself.