natural alternative for the food coloring up a celery stalk experiment?

[GranolaMoon]

We're in the middle of a plant unit and the putting a celery stalk in dyed water experiment is up next. Aside from the grossness of food coloring, I have 2 kids with intense dye allergies and I'm not brave enough to have it in my house :

Has anyone found an alternative that was just as visible moving up the celery?? Any ideas I can experiment with before having them do it?

[Wilhemina]

We *just* did this experiment with red food coloring. How about trying beet juice? It is pretty strongly colored. Just one idea.


ETA: You probably already know this, but just in case, be sure to use the freshest celery you can find.

[root*children]

I was going to suggest beet juice, too. Or blueberry juice (just let frozen ones thaw out and take the juice that sits int he bottom of the bowl). Those are the strongest colored natural dyes I know of. *Some* natural food places sell natural food dyes. I wonder if ebay does, too. I know they're quite expensive, though.

[GranolaMoon]

Oh groovy, I have blueberries in the freezer. I'll try some on my own before the kids do it.

Thankya!

[NatureMommy]

Originally Posted by GranolaMoon

Oh groovy, I have blueberries in the freezer. I'll try some on my own before the kids do it.

Thankya!

Be sure to let us know if it works.

[JenniferC]

How about tumeric? It is often used as a colouring agent in foodstuffs?

[stafl]

if you do one stalk in plain water as a control, you can probably try several different things and compare the results against each other. I'd try tea or coffee. Or just get some cheapo food coloring, it's not like your kids are going to drink it. Set the cups up in the kitchen window where everyone can see what's happening, but not able to reach them.

[Karenwith4]

You could try really strong sugar and salt solutions too and then let your kids do a taste test. You can see if the strength of the salt or sugar taste is the same at the top of the stock as it was at the bottom.

Karen

[EmsMom]

I have read that you can use ink. Let us know what works!

[applejuice]

Any HFS has food coloring, natural.