Topic: Powdered food colourings

[CardiffCurrylad]

Can anyone shine light on wheather there is any harmful substances in powdered food colourings or liquid food colourings? I recently read somewhere that there has been food tested in certain establishments with more than the legal amount of artificial food colouring added!

Thanks in advance,
Rob.

[ifindforu]

Can anyone shine light on wheather there is any harmful substances in powdered food colourings or liquid food colourings? I recently read somewhere that there has been food tested in certain establishments with more than the legal amount of artificial food colouring added!

Thanks in advance,
Rob.

you correct there there is a legal amount just dont over do it

[StoneCut]

Read this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6634071.stm?lsm

[Naga]

I've only taken up BIR-style cooking in the last year or so, but I definitely didn't fancy the stuff they put into powdered food colouring.

I made CA's pilau rice yesterday and I thought that I had to add food colouring to make it more visually attractive. Instead of powder, I bought Asda's liquid red, yellow and green natural food colourings from the baking section and, I must say, they worked a treat.

I also made tandoori chicken and, although the outer flesh certainly turned out red, I can't say for certain that the red food colouring worked well for the chicken as the marinade was red anyway.

But the rice turned out brilliantly, and I would certainly recommend the Asda food colourings for pilau.

[976bar]

I've only taken up BIR-style cooking in the last year or so, but I definitely didn't fancy the stuff they put into powdered food colouring.

I made CA's pilau rice yesterday and I thought that I had to add food colouring to make it more visually attractive. Instead of powder, I bought Asda's liquid red, yellow and green natural food colourings from the baking section and, I must say, they worked a treat.

I also made tandoori chicken and, although the outer flesh certainly turned out red, I can't say for certain that the red food colouring worked well for the chicken as the marinade was red anyway.

But the rice turned out brilliantly, and I would certainly recommend the Asda food colourings for pilau.

It would be nice to see some pictures Naga, I'm sure it looked lovely

[976bar]

I think this is the reason why natural food colouring's aren't used widely, take a look at the prices!!

http://www.fastcolours.co.uk/natural-food-dyes-711-c.asp

[Peripatetic Phil]

I made CA's pilau rice yesterday and I thought that I had to add food colouring to make it more visually attractive. Instead of powder, I bought Asda's liquid red, yellow and green natural food colourings from the baking section and, I must say, they worked a treat.

I'd go along with that : a couple of drops of green in one place, a couple of yellow in another, and just one of red, seems to me to produce the perfect-looking pulao.  Incidentally, I "upgraded" to Tilda for my last batch, and the results were good : Tilda seems to require less washing that generic Lidl-style brands.

** Phil.

[Cory Ander]

I made CA's pilau rice yesterday and I thought that I had to add food colouring to make it more visually attractive. Instead of powder, I bought Asda's liquid red, yellow and green natural food colourings from the baking section and, I must say, they worked a treat.

Yes, liquid food colourings (not natural ones, though?  ) are what I use to colour rice; they work a treat! 

What are these "natural food colourings" made of, please, Naga?

[StoneCut]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_coloring#Natural_food_dyes:

Caramel coloring (E150), made from caramelized sugar
Annatto (E160b), a reddish-orange dye made from the seed of the achiote.
Chlorophyllin (E140), a green dye made from chlorella algae
Cochineal (E120), a red dye derived from the cochineal insect, Dactylopius coccus
Betanin (E162) extracted from beets
Turmeric (curcuminoids, E100)
Saffron (carotenoids, E160a)
Paprika (E160c)
Lycopene (E160d)
Elderberry juice
Pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius), a green food coloring
Butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea), a blue food dye

[976bar]

I made CA's pilau rice yesterday and I thought that I had to add food colouring to make it more visually attractive. Instead of powder, I bought Asda's liquid red, yellow and green natural food colourings from the baking section and, I must say, they worked a treat.

I'd go along with that : a couple of drops of green in one place, a couple of yellow in another, and just one of red, seems to me to produce the perfect-looking pulao.  Incidentally, I "upgraded" to Tilda for my last batch, and the results were good : Tilda seems to require less washing that generic Lidl-style brands.

** Phil.

A tip I learnt from C2Go's book was pour some liquid food colouring into a mug, spoon some of the cooked rice into it, mix it around till it turns colour then add it back into the batch of rice. If you do this with 2 or 3 colours then just add it in separate areas of the pot. Then mix it all together. I did this with my large batch of Pilao rice I made for my grandsons birthday party yesterday.