For years, food dyes have come in all shapes and styles. They can be natural, they can be synthetic, or they can be a blend and mixture of both. However, one recent discovery has gotten scientists in a tizz as they might have found a rare thing indeed: a natural blue food dye!
Food that looks blue is naturally quite striking, but most of us know that blue food isn’t actually real. There are precious few foods in our world which are naturally blue. However, the rise of this natural blue food dye is getting lots of people very excited indeed. This organic dye, it is expected, will take over traditional food dyes and become the go-to option for years to come.
Healthier eating is a common talking point today, and this includes how we colour our food. While we all want our food to be aesthetically pleasing, it is often a sensation that we enjoy at the expense of our own health. Many food dyes are products that should never really be on a plate or eaten. This natural food dye, though, could be a positive find.
How did this blue food colouring come to be?
This new cyan-blue colouring could become commonplace in the culinary world. Where they managed to extract it from, though, is a little bit weird!
Scientists found this organic blue food dye in red cabbage. That’s right; red cabbages have, all along, been the source of a natural blue food colouring that we can use. When mixed with another natural food colouring, too, this can create even more vivid and exciting looking colour schemes.
By taking the anthocyanins from inside the red cabbage and using various enzymes to transform it into a richer blue colour, we have been able to create a sustainable, safe-to-eat, and entirely ethical food colouring. Given how many of us are taken in by the majesty of blue food colouring, this could be a very interesting find!