The art of natural colouring

There are several reasons why you would add natural colours to your dishes. You can unleash your creativity, avoid adding artificial colourings and it is an opportunity to incorporate superfoods into your dishes. The most commonly used natural colours for savoury applications are turmeric, beta-carotene and paprika, because of their stability during heating and their versatility. But you are obviously free to make all the colours of the rainbow! To make your own natural dyes from fruits or vegetables, you can use two different techniques. You can extract juice from fruits and vegetables, and you can also make powders from these.
 

The fastest and most convenient results are obtained by using a (slow) juicer or centrifuge. Pass the (unpeeled) fruit or vegetables through the centrifuge and collect the juice. Make interesting combinations by mixing different fruits and vegetables. You may want to add lemon or lime juice to avoid a change of colour in certain juices. Next, it is often a good idea to boil the juice down a little: this will increase the intensity of colours and flavours. If there are acids in the juice and you marinate fish or shellfish in it, it will ‘cook’ slightly – like in a ceviche.
 

By finely chopping (the remains of) fruit and vegetables and drying them in a food dehydrator,you can make your own colourful powders. Also check specialised shops or websites to buy these powders. They are often freeze-dried and therefore have very vibrant, intense colours. Most powders dissolve in liquids. However, when you make a powder from the peels of vegetables, it will never dissolve completely.