Dyeing, Naturally

I don't often feel the urge to conjure up colors that nature generally reserves for dramatic flowers and beautiful birds when it comes to my food, but every once in a while it's fun to dye.



I was inspired to break away from my standard cupcake style to come up with some vibrant, playful, colorful, and all around fun-loving confections that would partner well with a gift I was recently given by a very talented friend, Laura Evonne Steinman. It was the gift of cupcake coasters. Some of you less imaginative types might just now be wondering, "what is a cupcake coaster?" Clearly, it is a coaster for your cupcakes! For a little burst of color to decorate a plate for serving, to protect your tabletops from buttercream smears and cake crumbs, to highlight the uniqueness of all your cupcakes, cupcake coasters to the rescue!



Laura works with a lot of fun fabrics and felts, even making her own felt from sweaters for many of her projects. You can see more of her work in her Colorful Matters flickr set. She dreamed up these cupcake coasters for me and recently made me a cheering gift of a whole stack of them, perfect for serving up a dynamic dozen. While I knew that any cupcake would look lovely on one, I wanted to rise to the colorful challenge with these super citrus cupcakes (lemon cake with orange buttercream) so I broke out the dyes.



Since something about the coming Christmas season also makes me want to dye foods (don't exactly know why) I thought others of you might also be thinking about ways to dye food without turning to artificial food colorings. There are many reasons to avoid using and consuming artificial dyes. Some of the chemicals employed in making these dyes can adversely affect the central nervous system, especially in younger people. Many food dyes have been banned by the FDA for use in food because they've been found to be neurotoxic. Others have been implicated in cancer cases. There's enough pollution and biologically damaging agents in our environment without us actively eating these kinds of things, so I turn to more natural sources to dye with when the mood strikes.



And I should clarify, I mean, of course, I turn to natural plant-based sources for food dye. Those who want to avoid consuming animal products should note that there are some natural dyes that are not, as they say, suitable for vegans. You might be buying something that has perfectly natural food dyes in it, but they will be made from grinding up billions of tiny bugs or from the ink of squid. The most common offender, carmine or cochineal "extract," might not even be listed on some ingredient lables, though the FDA has recommended that manufacturers indicate its presence because it has caused some severe allergic reactions. Carmine is produced by crushing cochineal beetles to yield a red dye and it shows up in tons of products--everything from liqueurs, fruit juices, to all sorts of candies, and lots of make-up products. Squid ink is less common but shows up in some "gourmet" products, especially in dramatically colored pastas. So, just a word to the wise, natural doesn't mean animal-free.




Perhaps then the best way to get colors that are at once natural and vegan is to develop them yourself with items that you may even just happen to have around the house. There are lots of common items that can help you achieve beautiful coloring without turning to artificial sources. I've used beets and parsley, berries and zests, juices, spices, and herbs to get colors naturally. I've also experimented with some of the natural dyes that are on the market now and while they can be more convenient than making your own because they are much more concentrated and are already ready to use, what can beat the experience of seeing a bright pink cake and knowing the very beet whose juices contributed color to the cause?



I've been running on some pretty serious time constraints lately, so for these cupcakes, which I made for Laura to showcase her coasters (cupcake and otherwise) at a recent art fair in Jamaica Plain, I used India Tree natural food dyes and mixed and tweaked until I coaxed these colors out of the trio of primary colors that they offer. If I'd had a little more time and were I to have had beet powder on hand (it may or may not surprise you to learn I usually do), I would have tried to get the orange by mixing beet powder and a little carrot juice together, but the India Tree came out nice and even and with just the bright citrus flavor that I intended it to have. Certainly, using natural elements to get your dyes might impact the final flavor, but a light hand with the amount and a little patience (colors will often deepen over time) you can get great results.

Below are some more ideas for getting completely natural and even nutritious color into your food. Some things to remember: always allow your mixtures to cool before using if you have reduced them over heat, mix and match to get interesting new colors and to change the tone of the color, more of the coloring agent will give you a stronger color--start with a little and mix in more slowly as you go--it's easy to deepen a color but to lighten could be difficult.

Reds, Pinks, and Oranges

Beets: look for beet powder in your natural food store's bulk section, or reserve some liquid from boiling them (I reduce the liquid by heating until half of the liquid has evaporated, this gives you a more intense color.) Surprisingly, beet dye does not seem to have any impact on the flavor of the dyed item.
Berries: use frozen, puree and strain out any seeds for the most intense color and smoothest texture. You will get berry flavor, but generally that's not a bad thing!
Pomegranate: look for concentrated pomegranate juice. This will flavor your food item, but the color is beautiful.
Annatto: a spice that yields a beautiful red-orange color. It has a very slight flavor in the final product.
Paprika: another spice that looks orange-red and has a slight flavor. Look for sweet rather than spicy paprika if using in baked goods.

Blues and Purples

Blueberries or blackberries: use frozen blueberries, puree and strain. Imparts a slight flavor and will yield a purple-blue color. Cook down the strained juice to get a more intense color, heating over a low flame until half the liquid has evaporated.
Purple grape juice: look for the frozen concentrate, thaw portion for use before mixing in.

Green

Spinach or parsley: in many places you can buy frozen chopped parsley, this is a great thing to use, frozen spinach works well too. Thaw before using, squeeze out the liquid and use as is or reduce over heat to get a more concentrated coloring agent. The cooking water from a light sautee of these greens will work too. The flavor is not very noticeably changed by using either.

Yellows

Turmeric powder: A little turmeric can go a long way to giving you a beautiful yellow color. Its color deepens when heated, so try mixing it with a little water and heating before use. Be very careful with the flavor, turmeric can impart a strong and unwelcome taste in baked goods!
Carrot juice: again, frozen concentrate works best, but fresh will work too, though it may impact the flavor more and will take more liquid to work, which may require a reduction in the liquid called for in your recipe.

Sources for pre-made natural food coloring:

India Tree: available in many natural foods stores and online. Three colors, small bottles, great for occasional home use.

Nature's Flavors: a simply amazing array of dyes that are sourced vegan, gluten-free and kosher. Most are available in small sizes, but some are only offered in larger volumes and are rather expensive--share one with a friend!

Select Tea: sourced kosher and all organic. A great selection of colors all in 2 oz. sizes.

Or, of course, you could just get your bright and beautiful colors by sliding one of Laura's cupcake coasters under your confections!