CAROTENOIDS, CHLOROPHYLL, ANTHOCYANIN, TURMERIC - What do all these words have in common? 

   All of these are natural additives in foods that create a desired colored or already naturally occur in the most common of foods. Pumpkins, plums, black rice just to name a few. 

     Anthocyanin is an organic compound found in blueberries, black plums, black beans, red cabbage and black elderberries hold the highest levels. This compound contributes to the rich purple you see in the skin of an eggpplant or the blue of your favorite blueberry, red in those delicious raspberries my kids can't get enough of and even black found in beans and rice. Anthocyanin is water soluable and can be used to naturally color anything from different types of drinks to jello and jellies.

     The coolest part about it is that it's a plant-based constituent called a flavonoid touting it's wonderful nutrients and antioxidant qualities. Antioxidant = destruction of free radicals that pose a threat to our precious cells! We need these in abundance as much as we can get because it sure is easy to aquire free radicals in abundance from the simple by-product of metabolism to pollutants and chemicals in our air and the food we eat; anything we choose and also the substances we don't necessarily have control over putting in our bodies. We only get one body! 

Photo courtesy of Irene Ivantsova 

Turmeric

 Native to China but grown in the warm climate of India and South America, Turmeric is another great assest to our arsenal of natural food colorings, with it's rich earthy properties and warm tones it has so much to offer even beyond food application. Used for more than 2,000 years for a wide range of benefits it is especially intriguing for commerical use of creating foods with this ground root of the plant as the source of orange or deep yellow color. 

  *Colour consists mainly of curcumin and is used as a food colour with E-number E100(i), crude turmeric powder is E100(ii).

  **As a food colour it finds application in canned beverages, baked products, dairy products, ice-cream, yoghurts, yellow cakes, biscuits, popcorn-colour, sweets, cake icings, cereals, sauces, direct compression tablets, etc. In combination with annatto (E160b), it is also applied to colour cheeses, salad dressings, fruit drinks, winter butter and margarine. It is also used to colour and flavour prepared mustard, pickles, relish, chutneys, canned chicken broth, rice dishes and other foods.

 * https://www.food-info.net/uk/colour/curcumin.htm

** https://www.food-info.net/uk/products/spices/turmeric.htm

Photo courtesy of Hilary Hahn

Carotenoids

  Red, yellow and orange - Delicate salmon, healthy sweet potatoes, beautiful pumpkins and antioxidant rich tomatoes packed full of Beta-carotene. An A+ source of vitamin A, Beta-carotene plays important roles in plant health as well as the health of human consumers by reaping its ever protective benefits. Carotenoids are precursors, with beta-carotene containing the highest vitamin A activity and being the most abundant of these precursors. (Precursors: Compounds that can be developed into active vitamins) Carotenoids belong to a class of more than 700 naturally occuring pigments synthesized by plants, algae and bacterias. 

   Originally derived from carrots in the 1800's so this is a tried and true way to safely color food. Yes, it may not be as bright as the carrot itself and definitely not as bright as synthetics but who really needs such super vivid colors?! If we weren't so used to these bright, superficial colorants then we wouldn't even miss them! 

https://www.fda.gov/food/food-ingredients-packaging/generally-recognized-safe-gras

FDAs link where they state how dyes are recognized as "generally safe". 🤔