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4 Natural Food Coloring Ingredients

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Want colorful cupcakes, but hate to use artificial food coloring? Here are 4 natural ingredients that ensure your baked goods taste as good as they look...

 
 


With 1 cup of frosting mix in the below ingredients:

1. Beet juice. It can be added to frosting for a rosy, pink hue.
2. Blueberries. Smash 14 of them, then drain the juice for a deep blue shade.
3. Both of the above: combine the two to create shades of purple.
4. Tumeric powder. A teaspoon of this and you've got the perfect shade of yellow.
4. Avocado. Smash half a small avocado, then combine with the frosting using a fork.

Yum!

image: via stock xchang

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Comments (5)

I forget exactly what tumeric tastes like, but wouldn't it be kinda nasty in frosting?
Same for the Avacado.

posted by Rolen the Great on May 4th 2009 at 2:23pm
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I'd be scared to add more than a pinch of turmeric to frosting... it's kind of earthy-tasting. Avocado, however, is frequently used in South Asian ices and smoothies, and I wouldn't be afraid to use that in frosting... and you know, it's got that high-antioxidant fat in it, adding richness that's good for you... my worry is that it would brown.

Bring on the beet juice, though.

posted by whytephoenix on May 4th 2009 at 3:15pm
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Seems like a few drops of lemon juice in the avocado version would be a must to prevent browning... I sampled an avocado gelato the other day and while I didn't love it, it wasn't icky either.

posted by jm chen on May 5th 2009 at 8:08am
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Avocado flavor is very mild and would definitely be overpowered by the sugar in the frosting. In fact, Alton Brown makes an avocado frosting using the avocado as the fat. I saw him do it in a demo and a 6 year old kid from the audience gave it a thumbs up for taste.

The turmeric seems like it would be problematic to me too, though. Has anybody tried this?

posted by digigirl on May 5th 2009 at 8:43am
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i'd use saffron instead of turmeric.

crush a tiny amount of saffron and let it brew in about two tablespoons of hot water.

you'll have bright yellow, almost orange food coloring!

much better tasting than turmeric too!

posted by cravethemind on May 10th 2009 at 2:53am
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