Food coloring is a common ingredient used for specialty baked goods such as cakes. Some individuals prefer homemade food coloring for its natural quality and because the synthetic brands may have toxic ingredients. You can easily make your own food coloring from home using common household or store-bought ingredients. Once you decide the color you would like to make, the process is a cinch.

Instructions:

1 )Make yellow by incorporating 1 tsp. of turmeric powder to your recipe's mixture. The flavor is neutral and the intensity of the hue can easily be adjusted by simply adding or subtracting the amount powder.

2 )Make pink by incorporating the juice of fresh or thawed raspberries. Use a sifter when adding the juice so you don't accidentally spill seeds or the flesh of the fruit into the batter.


3 )Make any pastel color by smashing up half a pitted avocado and mixing it with the batter. Make sure the avocado reaches a smooth consistency so you don't create unwanted lumps.

4 )Make purple by incorporate the juice of fresh or thawed blueberries or blackberries. This works best if the batter is white or cream-colored.

5 )Make red by incorporating pomegranate or beet juice. Kashmiri chili powder, saffron or ripe tomatoes also work well. Use caution when incorporating Kashmiri chili powder as this is a spicy ingredient.

6 )Make brown by incorporating ground coffee granules or cocoa powder. Ground coffee works well for savory items, while cocoa powder should be reserved for baked goods.

7 )Make green with either thawed or frozen spinach that has been blanched and pureed. You can also make a light green color by soaking pistachios in water before grinding them to make a paste.