Natural Food Colouring For Decoration
Artificial food colouring can trigger hypersensitivity reactions such as rashes, itching, or asthma, especially in children and people with atopic dermatitis. The most controversial are the azo dyes: E102, E104, E110, E122, E124, and E129. There are so many beautiful hues in food, so why not use them? Before you start, there are some factors to consider.
1. Choose colours and sources
There are many natural sources for food colourings. These are some of our favourites:
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Pink: Berry mix powder, strawberry powder or raspberry powder
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Red: Lingonberry powder
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Yellow: cloudberry powder, saffron, or turmeric powder
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Green: matcha powder
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Purple: blueberry powder
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Brown: cocoa powder
2. Flavours
Natural food colouring comes from real food ingredients with a flavour. The amount of food colouring you add will therefore affect the flavour strength in your cookies.
3. Reasonable expectations
Natural food colouring provides natural decoration for your cookies, but may not offer intense colouring, as artificial colouring does. My best advice is to make some samples before you start decorating your cookies to get the best results.
4. Powders versus liquid colouring
Powders can be added directly to the frosting and leave a more intense food colouring. Compared to liquid colouring, which often requires longer cooking to evaporate, powders dissolve easily and can be added directly to the frosting.
5. Cold applications
Cool the cakes before you start decorating. Heat may affect the colours, making them duller or browner.
6. Decorate your cookies
After you have made samples and have achieved the colours you want, you can start decorating your cookies with frosting or icing.
