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Posts with tag food coloring

The history of food color

food colored cakeAustralian food history blogger The Old Foodie has an interesting series on the history and meaning of food coloring, both naturally-occurring and man-made. A few choice tidbits:

- The crushed body of the cochineal insect, native to Mexico and South America, was the the original red food coloring. It's still possible to get cochineal dye, but it's expensive: It takes about 70,000 cochineal insects to make one pound of dye.

- Food coloring was sometimes used as paint for formal occasions. In 1846, renowned French chef Alexis Soyer painted a portrait of the Pasha of Egypt in pineapple cream for a state diner.

- Alfred Hitchcock once held a 'blue dinner party,' with blue-dyed soup, trout, chicken, venison, peaches, ice cream, bread and more. The guests were said to have been repelled.

Should food dyes be banned?

There's a new (well, old, but gaining momentum) controversy in the world of food: should food dyes be banned?

Many people want the dyes (with names like Red 40 and Blue 2, which sounds like a score from an episode of Hell's Kitchen) used in food banned because they think they might cause hyperactivity and ADHD. The Food and Drug Administration insists that study after study has shown that food dyes/artificial coloring is safe for kids and adults to eat. Though as CBS' Nancy Cordes says, a study a few years ago of 21 top studies done showed that the dyes could actually have an effect on the restlessness and attention problems in children. A non-profit group is asking for the dyes to be banned.

I have to admit that food dye is an ingredient I never even think about when buying packaged foods. How about you?

Waiter, there's soap in my coffee

cup of coffeeFood styling has always been a field that I would love to go into, but I lack the skills and have no clue how I would proceed even if I did. So instead, I just read my boyfriend's digital food photography books and think about the tricks that one might use in the profession. Sometimes I consider using them for my personal blog, but I believe it constitutes cheating. Anyway, I thought I'd share some interesting ones just in case anyone needs to make their food more beautiful (though in some cases, it will result in it being inedible!):

1) To make your coffee appear bubbly and hot, add a teaspoon of soapy water.
2) For an extra cheesy-looking slice of pizza, cook the pizza halfway, then cut out one slice and add extra cheese around the edge of the cut. Finish cooking the pizza, then photograph the extra cheesy piece as you lift it out.
3) Use food-colored mashed potatoes for ice cream. I would actually never do this because my likelihood of forgetting and eating mashed potatoes with chocolate sauce is way too high.

Any others, perhaps ones that don't render the food inedible?

Food coloring, milk and bread become an art project

colorful painted toastWhile I'm not a parent myself, I've spent quite a lot of time in my life providing child care, and so I know that entertaining kids can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. One surefire way to keep the younger set happy is to give them either an art project or a cooking project. When you can combine the two and give them an artistic project that then turns into something they can eat, all the better!

Marie at Make and Takes did a really fun activity with her kids recently, in which she added food coloring to bowls of milk and used them as edible paint that they then used to color bread. The bread got toasted and eaten. They ate their painted toast dry, but you could butter it or give it a glaze with a bit of honey.

Food Porn: Smurf cake

Is your repertoire of desserts not colorful enough? Longing for something to dazzle your eyes as much as - or perhaps more than - your taste buds? Take a peek at this blue cake found on Flickr. Those multi-colored bits that resemble pebbles are, in fact, pebbles. They are Fruity Pebbles, to be exact, and are a sorely under-utilized component in making brightly colored cakes. Note that there appear to be pebbles inside the cake as well as on top, which means that there may very well be a bit of crunch to each slice. The secret ingredient to turn the cake such a lovely teal shade is none other than 100% natural Smurf. Just kidding. It's only food coloring. We don't advocate the senseless slaughter of defenseless Smurfs here at Slashfood - not even to color cakes.

Oh, and by the way, Happy April Fool's Day!

How to make green beer

No special process is involved in producing this St. Patrick's Day novelty drink. Simply add 5-6 drops of green food coloring to your beer and gently stir. Go for a bright color because a yellow-ish green is off putting no matter how fast you plan to down your drink. It is also best to go with lighter ales as opposed to a dark stout, like Guinness. To get a green color out of a Guinness, you would have to add enough food coloring to turn your teeth green when you take a sip. There are many other Irish beers available to help you get into the St. Paddy's Day Spirit, even though it might be easier to pick up a six pack of anything that comes in a green bottle to begin with.

Tip of the Day

Drying fruit is easy, mostly hands-off and yields a sweet and healthy snack.

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