Food dye. Well there’s the big red-blue-yellow and pink elephant in the room. Artificial food dyes are currently headliners on our food related news. A couple weeks ago Frito Lay announced they plan to give a more natural makeover to some of their snack products like Lay’s flavored Potato Chips, Tostitos, Multigrain SunChips and Rold Gold Pretzels. And a week later the FDA held hearings to evaluate a request to post warning labels on the labels of products containing these artificial colors. You can read three pertinent news articles on these topics here:
The Wall Street Journal – Can This Chip Be Saved?
FDA Reviews Research Linking Food Colorings and Hyperactivity
Ban Food Dyes? The FDA Says No
Food dyes have been in the news – and on my mind…a lot. So needless to say, as I was roasting beets last night for our dinner (no, I couldn’t get my kids to eat them…yet), my mind began to wander to the product labels I’ve seen where they use “beet juice for color”. Could I do that at home? Why do I have be forced into buying those little squeezeables of artificial dye every time I want to color frosting for cupcakes?
So after I pulled the beets out of the oven and unwrapped the foil and parchment packets they had been roasting in, I took at peek at the juices that had accumulated at the bottom of the packets. Deep red color. Yes, natural food color just from roasting our dinner. But would this juice from a vegetable color frosting and sugars as well as the little drops of concentrated chemicals. It sure did.
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THE COMPARISON: DecACake Baking Food Color Set vs. Out of the Box Food “Dinner and Dye” Roasted Beets and Natural Red Food Color
(All ingredients followed by an * can be referenced at www.wikipedia.org by clicking on the ingredient. Please feel free to reference the ingredients on other reputable sites for further information.)
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DecACake Baking Food Color Set
The ingredients listed on the package label are for all five colors (red, yellow, blue, orange and green)
Ingredients:
- water
- propylene glycol*
- artificial colors
- citric acid*
- sodium benzoate* (preservative)
- propylparaben* (preservative)
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Out of the Box Food“Dinner and Dye” Roasted Beets and Natural Red Food Color SM
Special Equipment: Baking sheet, parchment paper, aluminum foil
Ingredients:
- red beets
- olive oil
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees
- Cut off tops (greens) and scrub beets well with warm water.
- Lay a piece of parchment (large enough to hold the 3-4 beets over a piece of tin foil. Place beets on piece of parchment paper. Fold parchment as if wrapping a gift on all four sides to make a packet. Wrap parchment packet tightly in foil, being careful to seal completely. Place foil packets onto foil lined baking sheet to catch any escaping juices. (Each packet can hold up to four beets if desired)
- Roast beets for approximately 60 minutes (beets should be tender when pierced with sharp knife).
- Remove packets from oven and let cool slightly.
- Gently open foil and parchment packets being careful not to spill juices.
- Drain juices into glass container, cover tightly and reserve for food color uses.
- Serve beets sliced, or quartered warm or cold. Some serving suggestions include:
- Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.
- Drizzle with olive oil and top with crumbled feta and chopped oregano.
- Toss with olive oil, vinegar and sliced red onion.
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Like our Roasted Chicken and “Leftovers” Chicken Stock, this “Dinner and Dye” Roasted Beets and Natural Food Color takes one food and gives us multiple uses. I love it when that happens. Hang onto that dye – Next week we’ll use the dye to make a treat made popular by a certain bunny and it’s placement of them in colorful baskets this time of year. Until next week…
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Thanks Kim, I’ve been looking all over for “natural food colorants”. How long does the colorant keep for?
I keep mine for a couple weeks in an airtight container in the fridge. I haven’t tried it but I suppose you could freeze it as well!
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Another fantastic and helpful post!!
And would you say the Trader Joe’s peeled and steamed version–which also has extra juices–is a good alternative if time is tight?
Thanks, Mary! My guess is that it would be a fine alternative but I’d need to see the label. Are there any other ingredients beside beets?
Kim, you are amazing. This food dye thing has really bothered me since the FDA in all its “wisdom” decided to do nothing about eliminating it. Looking forward to what you do next! 🙂
What a great idea. You just can’t beet it. 🙂
Thanks, Carrie…and you’re funny!
Thanks, Gina! Next week I’m going to delve a little deeper into Red 3…it’s hard to believe that ingredient is still used. Frightening actually.