Natural Food Dye: Homemade Food Coloring Solutions for Safe and Delicious Holiday Baking

When we think of reds, oranges, blues, and greens, it's easy to imagine stunning fall leaves around Thanksgiving time or brilliant, shining lights on Christmas trees.

These unique color combinations make us feel cheerful as they resemble the times of the year many of us love the most--the holiday seasons.

For this reason, it’s no surprise that many of our holiday desserts--such as cookies, candies, and icings--are made with food colors that represent iconic holiday color schemes.

Most of us don’t think twice about chowing down on an orange-colored pumpkin cake or green Christmas tree cookies. After all, there’s no harm in enjoying a sweet treat, right?

Well...the answer to that might not be as black and white as you think.

The truth is that food dyes, while portrayed as harmless and fun, can actually be very dangerous.

What do you need to know about food dyes as you go about your holiday baking this year? And what are safe alternatives to the dyes you have sitting in your pantry?

Keep reading to find out…

The History of Food Dyes

Believe it or not, dyeing food is not a new concept. In fact, as early as 300 BC, the Egyptians used food coloring in their foods as well as in hair dyes and cosmetics.

To make these dyes, they would use materials such as…

• Paprika
• Saffron
• Copper Sulfate

Fast forward a few thousand years to the year 1856, and the first synthetic dye was created by a man named Henry Perkin. After his discovery of a synthetic mauve dye tone, hundreds of other synthetic dyes were created for use in food and cosmetics.

These dyes were first produced from by-products of coal processing, which is why they were commonly called "coal-tar colors" back in the day. Pretty freaky!

By the 1880s, food dyes created from coal-processing by-products were so popular that the USDA’s Bureau of Chemistry began research on the use of colors in food.

Sadly, it was discovered that coloring agents used for coloring foods contained many poisonous ingredients such as lead, arsenic, and mercury.

In 1906, the FDA had to step in and start regulating the food dye industry as people were dying from consumption.

While many improvements have been made over the years, the reality is that food dyes are still not super safe.

Here’s why…

What Makes Food Dyes Dangerous

A little food dye can’t be that dangerous, right?

Wrong...and there’s a long history of incidents to prove it.

In fact, according to Forbes.com, one of the first major food dyes, Orange #1, was banned in the 1950s after causing many children to fall ill on Halloween night.

20 years later, in 1970, Red #2 was banned as scientists discovered it was causing intestinal tumors in rats.

Since then yellow dyes #1, #2, #3, and #4 have been banned for their carcinogenic properties and yellow dye #5 is currently under investigation for its link to hyperactivity in children, anxiety, migraines, and cancer.

As of today, only seven color dyes remain on the FDA’s approved list.

What’s even scarier is that 3 of those 7 dyes (Blue #1, Green #3, and Red #40) are currently under investigation for the same health issues that the yellow dyes #1-#4 were banned for.

At the end of the day, dyes are dangerous because we simply don’t understand how their chemical makeup affects the body over a period of time. While some dyes have immediate damaging effects, other take years to manifest and cause deadly illnesses like cancer.

Certainly makes you think twice about adding a few drops of red or green dye into your holiday cookies!

While it’s certainly worrisome that dyes are causing catastrophic health problems--in some cases even death--there is a bright side to all the research that’s being done on food coloring.

Thanks to the discoveries that have been made, more and more companies are opting to use natural dyes in their food products.

Better yet, if you're really worried, it’s not difficult to color your baked goods using natural food products from home.

How to Keep Your Baked Goods Natural and Free of Synthetic Dyes

The best way to ensure your holiday treats are both safe and delicious this year is to use natural food products to color your desserts.

Don’t worry if you’re not a professional baker...creating your own dye is actually quite easy.

The process is simple…

Step 1: Determine what color you want your baked good to be.

Step 2: Use our color guide below to select an ingredient that will provide you with your desired coloration.

Step 3: Mash, blend, stir, or whip your ingredient of choice into your holiday treat to add natural color.

The Pure Modern Living Natural Food Dye Color Guide

Use the following color chart to find the best ingredients for coloring your food...

Pink: strawberries

Red: beets

Orange: sweet potato

Yellow: saffron

Green: matcha

Blue: blueberries

Purple: purple sweet potato

Brown: tea

Black: squid ink

It’s important to be mindful that adding additional ingredients to color your food will potentially alter the taste or texture of the treat you’re trying to bake.

Tips and Tricks for Making Your Own Food Dyes at Home

Baking is a science.

Therefore, anytime you add a foreign ingredient into your recipe, it will change the makeup of what you’re trying to bake, and can potentially throw your dessert off-kilter, not allowing it to bake or set properly.

In order to avoid a dessert disaster, I recommend the following tips…

Tip #1 - Use Powders

If you’re making cupcakes, cookies, cakes, etc. (anything with a liquid batter), try and find powder versions of the natural ingredients you’re using as food dyes.

For example, if you’re trying to dye a cake batter red, using freeze dried raspberries instead of fresh, juicy raspberries is a good idea.

If you’re using freeze dried fruits for coloration, make sure you grind the fruits into a dust or powder so the color gets distributed evenly in the batter.

You can also find powder forms of different coloring ingredients. For example, if you’re trying to dye something brown using coffee, try using instant coffee powder rather than liquid coffee.

Other useful powders include…

• Green matcha powder
• Orange carrot powder
• Red Beet powder
• Yellow turmeric powder
• Brown cocoa powder

Tip #2 - Use Pastes

Food pastes are also a good alternative to adding extra liquids into your recipe.

For example, if you’re trying to dye a cookie batter purple, using pureed purple carrots might help you keep a normal cookie batter consistency, rather than using something like blueberry juice.

Other useful pastes include…

• Red beet paste
• Yellow saffron paste
• Green spinach paste
• Purple sweet potato paste
• Black squid ink paste

Tip #3 - Select Mild-Tasting Dye Ingredients

It’s no surprise that most people don’t want to be chowing down on beet-flavored cookies. Gross!

For that reason, it’s important to consider how much dye you’ll need for your recipe and how the quantity will affect your dessert’s flavor.

We personally recommend you stick to the following foods if you want to dye your food without drastically altering the taste…

• Sweet potatoes
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Charcoal
• Dried, powdered fruits

Regardless of what you use, we recommend that you test out different ingredients in small batches to determine what will work best and taste best with your recipe.

Of course, there are going to be certain recipes that you simply won’t want to substitute ingredients because you don’t want to alter the taste or texture.

The good news...there ARE safe dyes on the market. In fact, we sell natural food coloring that doesn’t contain any artificial colors and is safe to use in all your classic holiday treats.

The brand we love and always recommend is Watkins Food Coloring. All the colors that come in the package are made with vegetable juices and spices--how cool is that?

Stock up on our safe, natural food coloring here!

And, of course, don’t forget to shop around our online store while you’re at it to ensure you’ve got everything you need to cook and bake safely and naturally this holiday season.

Shop now!

To get you started on your journey of using safe, natural dyes, we wanted to share a classic frosted sugar cookie recipe with you. Check out the recipe here!

We wish you and your family safe, happy, and healthy holidays!