Natural colors derived from fruits, vegetables and other plants offer a healthier alternative to synthetic dyes while supporting sustainable practices and being eco-friendly.
Behavior Influences: Color can have an influence over human responses and behaviors, including stimulating appetite or relaxing the mind. Furthermore, nature provides seasonal cues via color changes which serve as seasonal signs for migrating animals.
Origins
Natural colors come from plants, flowers, seeds, fruits vegetables and minerals and tend to be better accepted by food safety authorities than synthetic dyes.
Bakers and confectionery producers are increasingly turning to natural colors as part of an innovative approach to baking. It meets consumer demand for cleaner ingredients while offering them a chance to show their creative side through baking innovation.
As well as adding flair to bakery and dessert products, many natural colorants offer health-related advantages. They’re less likely to cause allergies than synthetic dyes and come from non-GMO sources – which means your customers can rest easy knowing you’ve used natural hues!
Natural coloring options span more than 4,000 pigments. From indigo for blues to madder for reds, there are an array of hues available in nature’s palette. Natural colors have been utilized since antiquity; lapis lazuli (a blue mineral), cinnabar for reds and tyrian purple from sea snail glands are among some of the oldest and most iconic examples that were once some of the most expensive paints ever.
Purposes
Natural food dyes appeal to health-conscious customers as they’re made from renewable resources and free from chemicals. Furthermore, they help brands comply with regulations for premium and clean-label markets which prohibit synthetic colorants.
Natural colorants can greatly improve the visual appeal of baked goods, particularly cakes. They can add vibrant green hues to pistachio cake, brighten yellow frosting with turmeric or influence aroma such as with annatto extract and curcumin. Furthermore, these natural hues may enhance taste as well.
Natural dyes tend to be more stable than their synthetic counterparts, holding up well under heat and light conditions. However, some natural colors require special care in formulation – particularly green hues, which consist of pH- and temperature-sensitive anthocyanins that react negatively with light as well as light-sensitive chlorophyll that produce vivid green colors. Furthermore, greens often introduce earthy or bitter flavors that make them particularly well suited for beverages and dairy products.
Sources
Natural color additives come from plants and minerals, offering vibrant reds of paprika to delicate greens of spinach. More stable than synthetic dyes, natural colors enable food manufacturing companies to achieve bold hues with lower usage rates.
Natural colors have been around for millennia, beginning with cave paintings using ocher pigments as early as 3600 BCE. Since then, earthy tones such as whites, oranges, yellows, browns and blacks have been produced using an assortment of materials easy to source and mix with water or biochemical binders such as clay, guar gum or beeswax binders.
The Food and Drug Administration recently granted approval of three natural food color additives, fulfilling President Trump’s goal to transition away from petroleum-based dyes in America’s food supply and Make America Healthy Again. These natural food colorants include annatto, beetroot extract, turmeric and Galdieria sulphuraria microalgae blue hue, which are all water soluble. When mixed with an approved carrier/stabilizer combination they create heat, light and pH stable liquid food colors designed for use in foods and beverages.
Applications
Color plays an essential part in our everyday lives, from communicating what food to purchase to signaling when vegetables have reached ripeness. Furthermore, colors often convey health and wellness values which consumers increasingly prioritize.
Natural colors differ significantly from synthetic dyes in that they come from edible sources like petroleum and coal; instead they’re made or extracted from foods such as fruits, vegetables, seeds, plants, minerals to provide the full spectrum of hues found throughout nature.
From premium celebration cakes using gardenia blue hues, to healthy snack bars using chlorophyll-colored bars, brands are increasingly turning to natural colors in response to consumer expectations for cleaner ingredients and traditional bakery dyes. They serve to align their products more closely with consumer expectations than ever before.
Anthocyanins provide a spectrum of hues from reds to burgundies and are extremely versatile across a range of pH values, making them suitable for vegan and vegetarian products. Additionally, they’re certified kosher and halal.
