Now a day we’ve known about the danger of using synthetic colors with delicious appearance in food and drinks and how bad it affected to our body. Many people are aware and want to stay away from illness and protect themselves from chemical as much as they can. This is the reason why food-coloring from nature are not only in-trend but also nutrient and make our food and drink pretty.
Even some colors of nature will be really beautiful but sometimes we have to accept that some plant-based colors may not be as fresh as synthetic colors. However, it doesn’t mean natural colorings aren’t good, you just have to adapt and use it in the right way. Because we actually have lot of color choices from many plants, more than 100 shades of colors.
First of all we should understand the benefits, the nature of colors, the pattern or method to combine natural coloring with different art of food and drinks.
Let’s start to get to know the benefits of natural colors!
- The red pigment in plant contains “Lycopene”. You can find lycopene in red vegetables, fruits and herbs such as a red colorant in beetroot (powder), hibiscus (powder), pink dragon fruit, rose powder, pitaya slices, raspberry (powder), watermelon, tomato, pomegranate, cranberry and other. When you eat food with lycopene, your body will use it as an antioxidant, which help to prevent the aging of skin and keeps you younger looking. In Addition, some research have referred that lycopene can boost sperm concentration in men, nourish the urinary tract, protects your skin from sunburn.
- Orange substances contains “Beta carotene”, which has the potential of antioxidant e.g., Carrots (powder), sandalwood (powder), orange, papaya etc. Some research also announced that, if you gain enough beta carotene each day, it will help the body scavenge free radicals, lower cholesterol levels, which means prevents diabetes. Thereby it’s still limiting damage to cell membranes, DNA and protein structures in the tissues. Besides, beta carotene and several other carotenoids are also known as “provitamin A”, the important sources of immune protection and skin benefits.
- Yellow substance has a “Lutein” (a type of carotenoid antioxidant), the most well-known for sustain your vision and eye health, especially the parts of the eyes called the macula and the lens. Lutein help to prevent cataracts and support the focus light of the retina in the eyes, which is the most eyes problem of old people, who has slowly damaging vision. Besides, it’s protect your skin disorders, risk of heart disease, breast cancer and slows down the rate of oxidative stress. Support brain function, enhances memory and learning are another advantages of it. You can find it in general yellow herbs, fruits and vegetables for example, turmeric root powder, curcuma, chrysanthemum, marigold flower petals, corn, egg york and the rest yellow fruits. Surprisingly, lutein is also in some dark, leafy green vegetable like spinach and kale.
- We’ve always heard about “Chlorophyll”, the Green pigment substance from green plants. The darker green color is in greenery, the more chlorophyll it is. Chlorophyll is composed of essential vitamins and nutrients needed for neural health, cardiovascular, muscular and best detoxifying agent, which is really excellent choice for diet or weight control because the meal with chlorophyll makes stable blood sugar levels, control the hunger and non-fat. It’s simply good for body from the inside out, which means stinky smell reduction, alleviated constipation and gas, protects cells from oxidative damage by eliminating free radicals, reproduce bacteria in wound, healing wound and preventing infections. For instance, kale, green herbs spinach (fresh and powder), spirulina (powder), hops, coral and so on. Scientists say that when chloroform is digested, it is very powerful in cancer prevention.
- Purple/ Blue plant has “Anthocyanin” substance. You can also find it in many flowers as well. For example, purple cauliflower, butterfly pea flower (powder), blueberry (powder), blue mallow flower, Forest Berry Powder, cornflower petals, blackberry, red cabbage and along with others. Research result reported that this Anthocyanin is also against pain and inflammation, slow down the degeneration of human cells, active and nourish in the blood vessels, increases flexibility to the vascular wall, decrease cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, increase blood flow, which reduce the risk of heart disease.
- Black vegetal charcoal or carbon powder is a new trend to use as a natural dye/powder food coloring. Vegetable carbon is produced through steam activation of vegetable fibers with the fresh materials such as coconut shell, nut shells, bamboo, peat and wood. Besides, the black pigments from natural charcoal are very stable to heat (cooked), light and still in pH range. It used as black/gray color for icing, bakery, smoothie bowl, black noodle, ice cream and other food and dessert dishes.
- Others phytochemicals pigments give different colors in plants and some are colorless! We know it as white or no color fruits and vegetable. They have rich flavonoids, (Flavonol) is a colored group of flavonoids that give very light yellow to almost colorless. Found in fruits and vegetables such as, white cabbage, sprout, white sesame, millet, apple, guava, white dragon fruit, white flesh, white meat, banana, rambutan, longkong, lychee, jujube etc., Flavonoid has a powerful antioxidant, which help the body to counteract free-radical formation, prevent and reduce several types of cancer cells, high in dietary fiber, lower risk of stroke, helping to protect you from high blood pressure, heart disease, increase vitamin E content. As well as can reduce fat and cholesterol in the blood.
Each color has prominent point and can mean a lot of things for natural food and drink lover. They have not only variety health benefits but also special flavor, beautiful color, different sources, and, of course, different prices to choose for personal sense of taste and health purposes. You can also check to our inspiration and recipes pages, how to create food and drinks with natural coloring as an idea and be healthy together.
“The more natural colorful we eat and drink, the more nutrients for the immune system we have.”