Nowadays, more and more people are looking for all natural food and drinks. Every ingredients of the products must be from natural source, including food coloring agents. Most food coloring agents are powder form, and they can be easily added into your products and give them attracting appearance. Sometimes, you can mix two, three or even more pigments and get a new color.
Normal coloring agents that are made from natural source are yellow, orange, red, purple, purple red, blue, black and green.
Yellow
Water soluble curcumin extracted from turmeric root. Water soluble curcumin is yellow powder and it has 10% curcumin content. It is often used as pigment for food and drinks.
Orange
Lutein extracted from marigold. Lutein is water soluble orange powder. It appears yellow at low concentrations and orange-red at high concentrations.
Red
1. Beetroot juice powder made from the root of red beet. When it dissoves into water, it will be light red to dark purple depending on the dosage used.
2. Red cabbage juice powder made from red cabbage leaves. Red cabbage juice powder contains anthocyanin that can change color when pH value changes. It is red, pink, or magenta in acids, (pH < 7), purple in neutral solutions (pH ≈7), and blue to green to yellow in alkaline solutions (pH > 7).
3. Rose flower powder made from dried flower of rose. Rose flower powder is pink powder and it will be pink to red when it is soluble in water. It can give your products not only good color, but also pleasant smell.
4. Roselle powder made from dried flower of hibiscus sabdariff. It will be light red to dark red when it dissolves into water. Like rose flower powder, it also gives exciting odor.
Purple
1. Purple sweet potato powder made from purple sweet potato. It is great purple colorant for foods, drinks and bakery products.
2. Purple yam powder or UBE powder. It is good coloring agents and nutritional ingredients for food and drinks.
3. Black carrot juice powder made from purple carrot root. It can be added into food, drinks, superfood, and dietary supplements to improve the appearance, taste, and nutrition quality of the products.
Blue
1. Blue spirulina powder extracted from spirulina platensis. The main active ingredient of blue spirulina powder is phycocyanin, and there are three specifications with different protein content, phycocyanin E6, E18 and E25. It can be added into food, drink, dietary supplements and cosmetics products to give them beautiful blue color.
2. Butterfly pea flower powder made from dried flowers of clitoria ternatea. Butterfly pea powder changes its color when pH value changes. In neutral solvents, it is blue, when the solution is acidic, the color will change to purple, even red; while the solution is alkaline, the color will be green.
Black
Vegetable carbon black powder made from coconut shell. Vegetable carbon black has E number of E153, and it is black powder, odorless, and tasteless, insoluble in water or organic solvents. It is mainly used in bakery products, cheese, frozen food products.
Green
Sodium magnesium chlorophyllin and sodium copper chlorophyllin, made from mulberry leaves. They are dark green powder, soluble in water. It can be used as green coloring agent in food, cosmetics and textile products.
There are also many other food coloring agents that are made from natural fruits and vegetables. Many of them also contain various nutritional substances and may provide a lot of health benefits.