What is the best natural food coloring?

[leomom]

I have tried India Tree and it didn't really work that well for me.  It changed the consistency of my icing before it changed the color...

Anyone have any others they have tried and liked?

Any help would be appreciated!

TIA!

[cocoanib]

subbing...I wanna know too :)

[artemis33]

I have used the juice from thawed, frozen raspberries to make pink icing.  I tried blueberry juice first, but it didn't work nearly as well and it was more of a lavender color.  After you can throw the berries in your yogurt  :)

[cristeen]

What color(s) are you trying to achieve? 

Most natural colorings will not achieve the bright vibrant colors without altering the consistency of the product.  Artificial colorings are highly concentrated, far beyond what we can achieve with natural colorings.  So it's often just a good idea to adjust your expectations first. 

Pink can be achieved with berries, beets or black cherries

Brown can be achieved with chocolate/cocoa, coffee or molasses

Yellow can be achieved with turmeric

Annatto can do anything from butter yellow to a fairly strong orange-red color. 

Spinach or parsley can do green

Don't know of anything that can achieve a true blue. 

Purple can be achieved with blueberries or blackberries - blueberries are typically lighter than blackberries

Light orange colors can be achieved with mango, apricot or peach purees, but then you're really affecting consistency.   I dunno - maybe carrot juice might to an orange?

[CoBabyMaker]

Sweet potato puree is another option for orange! 

[leomom]

Thanks for all the ideas.  So what I'm hearing is that if I want to do it without the icky artificial dyes...my days of being able to add a few drops to icing are over... ;)

Ok, I can deal with that...

When you use the juices from the fruits...how do you extract the juice?  I don't have a juicer...can I just puree the fruit?

Thanks again!

[leomom]

Originally Posted by cocoanib 

subbing...I wanna know too :)

I found this thread too...

http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/thread/209224/need-help-making-natural-food-coloring

[cristeen]

Easiest is to defrost frozen berries - the frozen berries will release all their juices naturally as they defrost.  (this doesn't work for blueberries or cranberries though)

Oh - I think purple cabbage will give you blue, not sure you'd want it though. 

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by cristeen 

Easiest is to defrost frozen berries - the frozen berries will release all their juices naturally as they defrost.  (this doesn't work for blueberries or cranberries though)

Oh - I think purple cabbage will give you blue, not sure you'd want it though. 

Maybe not cranberries, but definitely blueberries.

Purple cabbage gives red/pinky/purple depending on how much you can use. Unfortunately it really needs an acid to release the color.

[MAMom]

I read somewhere (maybe here  that you can add ground up dehydrated fruits for food coloring.  That would eliminate the issue of excess fluid in the frosting (I would think dehydrated strawberries and blueberries would work best, though mangos might work for a pale peach color.  The dehydated peas are a bright green, but might taste funny in the frosting.  TJ's sells the strawberries & blueberries.

[omelette]

I just made a beautiful fushia frosting from beet juice.  I cooked the beets and added a few drops of juice.  Worked great.

[cocoanib]

Thanks for the ground dried fruit idea!!

Using juices makes things too loose sometimes.