Natural Food Coloring

Natural food coloring is a healthy alternative to decorating cakes, dyeing Easter eggs, or adding fun color to dough instead of using artificial colors. Research shows artificial colors in food shows hyper activity and certain side effects in some children and even adults. So if you are concerned about food coloring in your decorated cakes, you'll love trying out natural coloring ideas that are available now.

Please note: You won't get the bright red, blue and yellow you are use to but you'll have the added benefit of knowing your frosting is dye free.

Kids Cooking Activities Teaching Materials

Make teaching easier with our activities and recipes compiled in theme sets and books with an easy to read format

Perfect for teaching!

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Coloring with Foods

You can use food to change the color of your frosting. Just remember you don't want to use Kool-aid, Jell-O, and anything like that because they have artificial colors in them as well.

Try blueberries, strawberries, watermelon, turmeric or cooked beets. You can also boil shredded red cabbage in water and use the colored water in your frosting recipe. Substitute some of the liquid such as milk for a liquid such as juice from blueberries, red cabbage water, etc.

Color Dying Ideas:

Lavender    

Small Quantity of Purple Grape Juice
Violet Blossoms plus 2 tsp Lemon Juice

Violet Blue

Violet Blossoms
Small Quantity of Red Onions Skins

Blue    

Canned Blueberries
Red Cabbage Leaves

Purple  

Grape Juice

Green    

Spinach Leaves
Liquid Chlorophyll
Green Tea

Greenish Yellow  

Yellow Delicious Apple Peels

Yellow

Orange or Lemon Peels
Carrot Tops
Celery Seed
Ground Cumin
Ground Turmeric
Saffron

Brown

Strong Coffee
Instant Coffee
Black Walnut Shells

Orange  

Yellow Onion Skins

Pink  

Beets
Cranberries or Juice
Raspberries
Red Grape Juice
Juice from Pickled Beets

Red    

Lots of Red Onions Skins

Natural Egg Dying Tips

Dye your eggs in boiling water, with vinegar and the item used to create the desired color, boiling both eggs and dye items together. Don't forget to compost your dye items when you are finished dyeing your eggs.