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Home » Creative Cooking » How to Make Natural Purple, Teal (Blue-Green), & Fuchsia (Purple-Pink) Food Colorings {Using the Red Cabbage Method & the Blueberry Method}

How to Make Natural Purple, Teal (Blue-Green), & Fuchsia (Purple-Pink) Food Colorings {Using the Red Cabbage Method & the Blueberry Method}

June 27, 2013 by Faith 27 Comments

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If you follow me on Instagram, you might already know that yesterday I made natural food coloring.

This is because I recently got the idea in my head that I absolutely had to make blue frosting.

I’ll tell you all about why I needed it soon, but for now, here is a big hint…

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That is supposed to be a pirate flag atop that cupcake…but more on that in a later post! (The very light pastel blue in some of the frosting in the cupcake above is from using natural red cabbage purple and teal dyes; the deeper purple color in some of the frosting is from using natural blueberry dye.)

I didn’t want to go the normal route and grab a bottle of food coloring. Every beautiful shade of the rainbow is available in nature, and I thought why not utilize it? How hard could it be to make a natural dye?

I did a little research online and I came across an article for Homemade Natural Blue Food Coloring on Whole New Mom. Not only is she an amazing lady, but her food coloring looked pretty wonderful and I thought, What the heck?! I’ll give it a whirl. (Total Home Alone 2 reference for anyone who’s seen the movie.)

So I started out with probably the prettiest red cabbage I’ve ever seen…

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Gave it a quick chop…

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And then after a brief stint in some boiling water, I ended up with a pretty shade of purple. And after adding a bit of baking soda to some of it, I had a lovely teal. (The alkaline property of baking soda causes this to happen.)

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Red Cabbage Method: Natural purple coloring (on right) and teal coloring (on left) above. Note that although the colorings look very deep-colored, they show up as pastel colors when used to dye things.

Out of curiosity I mixed some distilled white vinegar into the teal…and ended up with fuchsia! Even though I wouldn’t use this to dye foods I want to eat (like frosting) because of the flavor of vinegar, I think it would be great for dying Easter eggs and such.

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Here’s the fuchia above (with the teal in the background). There is a hard-boiled egg in the teal – it came out a lovely soft pastel shade of green!

I was super excited to try these natural dyes in frosting, so I whipped up a basic batch of frosting with equal parts vegetable shortening (not butter because I didn’t want the yellow from the butter to come through in the final color), powdered sugar, and just a touch of clear extract. Then I mixed in between 3 to 4 tablespoons of my natural dye (about half purple and half teal)…and ended up with a super light pastel bluish purple that almost had a light grey hue.

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Pure white frosting with about 3 to 4 tablespoons of natural purple and teal dyes (from the red cabbage method) added…that is not enough color for me! (The cupcake photo above shows its color a little better.)

I was disappointed that the natural red cabbage dyes weren’t great for the use I had intended for them (coloring frosting), but I soon thought of a way to remedy that…blueberries! (And I know the red cabbage dyes do have other uses – see my Notes section below.) So I soldiered on and boiled down some blueberries with some water until the liquid was very concentrated and then strained out the blueberries. Here’s what I got…

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Blueberry Method: Natural purple coloring.

And here’s how it looked when I swirled about 2 teaspoons into a batch of frosting…

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I was going for a streaked look with the frosting!

I thought the natural blueberry coloring served this purpose perfectly!

Below I give the recipes (which are really more methods than actual recipes), along with my notes on each.

I will definitely be trying my hand at making more natural dyes, so I might do a sequel post to this one at some point.

Here are a few other color ideas I have in mind:

  • Red: Beets, pomegranate molasses, cranberries
  • Pink: Raspberries, strawberries, cherries, hibiscus, rose
  • Orange: Carrot juice
  • Yellow: Turmeric
  • Green: Spinach (or other leafy greens), chlorella, liquid chlorophyll
  • Blue: Some kind of herbal tea, such as blue Thai tea, which is also called Butterfly Pea Tea
  • Purple: Blackberries
  • Brown: Tea, coffee, cocoa powder

Natural Purple, Teal (Blue-Green), and Fuchsia (Purple-Pink) Food Colorings {Red Cabbage Method}

1 lb (455 g) cabbage, core removed and thinly sliced (about 5 cups sliced)

Water

Baking soda

Distilled white vinegar

  1. Add the cabbage and enough water to cover it (about 5 cups/1.2 liters) to a medium lidded saucepan.
  2. Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn heat down and simmer (covered) 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and let it steep for 5 minutes.
  3. Strain the cabbage out, reserving the purple liquid. Let the liquid cool to room temperature and then divide it in thirds in 3 separate bowls.
  4. The purple liquid is ready to use at this point.
  5. To make teal (blue-green), stir in 1/4 teaspoon baking soda at a time until it reaches your desired shade.
  6. To make fuchsia (purple-pink), after making teal (blue-green), stir in 1/4 teaspoon distilled white vinegar at a time until it reaches your desired shade.

NOTES {RED CABBAGE METHOD}:

  • After being boiled, the cabbage is a bit softer than you might normally cook it, but it is still completely edible. Once you strain the cabbage out of the liquid, you can toss it in a little olive oil-sautéed onion, garlic, and/or ginger with salt and pepper for an instant side dish.
  • Using the red cabbage method, you should get a total of about 4 cups/1 liter of food coloring.
  • The cabbage food colorings are not concentrated, so foods that are dyed with them have pastel hues instead of deep colors.
  • The purple cabbage coloring smells like cabbage, but its flavor is quite mild and can be easily covered with bolder flavors (and it can even be used to dye sweets like frosting into soft, pastel colors). The teal and fuchsia colorings both have much stronger flavors due to the addition of baking soda and distilled white vinegar, so their flavors are harder to mask or blend into something else; however, they still have their uses too!
  • Uses for purple food coloring (red cabbage method): making frosting; making other dyed foods (like mashed potatoes or cauliflower); coloring Easter eggs; crafting (like making naturally-dyed paper).
  • Uses for teal (blue-green) food coloring (red cabbage method): coloring Easter eggs; crafting (like making naturally-dyed paper); you can also use it sparingly to dye things like frosting – just be careful because it may change the flavor!
  • Uses for fuchsia (purple-pink) food coloring (cabbage method): coloring Easter eggs; crafting (like making naturally-dyed paper). With vinegar in this coloring I don’t recommend using it in things like frosting.

Natural Purple Food Coloring {Blueberry Method}

1/4 cup (35 g) frozen blueberries

1/4 cup (60 ml) water

  1. Add the blueberries and water to a small saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Bring to a boil, then give the berries a good mash; turn the heat down slightly and simmer (uncovered) 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and steep 5 minutes.
  3. Strain the berries, reserving the liquid.
  4. Cool the liquid completely before using.

NOTES {BLUEBERRY METHOD}:

  • Using the blueberry method, you should get about 1 tablespoon of dye – but it is very concentrated, so a little goes a long way!
  • Although the color of the blueberry food coloring is concentrated, its flavor isn’t. It smells and tastes only very faintly fruity, which is nice because it lets you easily mask its flavor if you don’t want it to stand out.
  • Uses for purple food coloring (blueberry method): making frosting; making other dyed foods (like mashed potatoes, cauliflower, or risotto); coloring Easter eggs; crafting (like making naturally-dyed paper).

Filed Under: Creative Cooking, Fun, Health & Wellness, How To, Recipes Tagged: Blueberries, DIY, Do It Yourself, Homemade, How To, How To Naturally Dye Frosting, Natural Easter Egg Dye, Natural Food Colorings, Natural Food Dyes, Recipes, Red Cabbage

Comments

  1. Amandah says

    December 21, 2020 at 11:56 am

    Blueberries are also pH reactive, you can add baking soda to turn them blue/teal and vinegar or lemon juice for fucshia. The lemon juice would probably work better for frosting :)

    Reply
  2. Lauren says

    November 18, 2020 at 4:14 pm

    For the blueberries, you really need more water to keep them from burning. When I doubled the recipe it was fine but when I did it a second time as written, I had to add more water as the berries were starting to burn

    Reply
    • Faith says

      November 18, 2020 at 4:33 pm

      Hi Lauren, Thanks so much for sharing your experience with this! The rate of evaporation depends largely on the weather. I’m happy that you added more water and it worked for you!

      Reply
  3. Ava says

    September 30, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    My art teacher said I should look at your page so I did it’s a amazing I tryed the dye resope

    Reply
  4. Vanessa Benavente says

    July 22, 2018 at 12:27 am

    Hi! This is exactly what I was looking for. Quick question: I would love to dye my vanilla buttercream frosting the closest thing to lavender as possible…but not sure if I should go with the cabbage method or the blueberry method. Which one would you recommend? Also, if I went with the blueberry method, would pureeing them instead of boiling them help?

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Faith says

      July 22, 2018 at 11:34 am

      Vanessa, I’m glad you found this helpful! For a lavender color, I’d probably go with the blueberry method. I haven’t tried pureeing the blueberries instead of boiling them, but it may work. My guess is that the color wouldn’t be as concentrated, but I don’t know for sure. If you try pureeing the berries, please let me know how it works out!

      Reply
  5. Lucy says

    March 28, 2018 at 11:22 am

    Omg I almost used these tips to dye my hair! I was googling tips for dying hair naturally and this came up. Bahahaha I was seriously thinking “frosting? In my hair?! I guess….” so glad I read the comments because now I know. Sounds yummy….for cupcakes XD

    Reply
  6. chris says

    February 9, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    The blueberry method picture looks swirled with white as you mentioned. I was wondering, did you purposely lightly swirl it so it would be that way? I need to make purple frosting – not swirled – and was wondering if this would work. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Faith says

      February 10, 2018 at 7:45 am

      Hi Chris, Yes, I purposely lightly swirled it because this was the “stormy” look I was going for.

      Reply
  7. Mich says

    September 4, 2017 at 1:36 am

    So cool! Would it work on freshly whipped cream? Tq!

    Reply
    • Faith says

      October 10, 2017 at 7:54 am

      Mich, I haven’t tried this technique on whipped cream so I don’t know for sure. If I were going to play with it, because of whipped cream’s tendency to deflate I’d probably used stabilized whipped cream (recipe is in this post), which is basically whipped cream with a little gelatin. Please let me know how it goes if you give it a try!

      Reply
  8. Isha says

    March 19, 2017 at 7:18 pm

    Hey! I am making paint using the list of fruits and vegetables as the dyes and I was wondering if the color could be preserved for a longer amount of time.

    Reply
    • Faith says

      March 20, 2017 at 7:11 am

      Isha, I haven’t tried using these colors in that way, so I have no idea how well it would work. If you give it a try, please let me know how it goes!

      Reply
  9. Joni says

    March 13, 2015 at 10:39 am

    Cream cheese instead of shortening for the frostings is healthier and tastes soooo much better

    Reply
  10. Susie says

    January 10, 2015 at 6:34 am

    Hi! I’m so excited to try this out. How long did the “food coloring” keep? Does it last a long time?

    Reply
    • Faith says

      January 10, 2015 at 9:55 am

      Hi Susie, I used it all the same day it was made, so I have no idea how long it would keep. I’d assume it would probably keep up to a week covered in the fridge though. Let me know if you give it a try! :)

      Reply
  11. Audrey says

    March 4, 2014 at 7:21 am

    If you used lemon juice instead of vinegar you could use the iceing on cakes.

    Reply
  12. Samia says

    September 26, 2013 at 5:47 am

    I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT… THANKYOU!!!! I need to make lipsticks for a project and I am so doing this! <3

    Reply
  13. [email protected] says

    July 2, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    Very cool idea to try and make your own food coloring. I guess it would be hard to keep leftovers for any long period of time. Paprika could be a good one too.

    Reply
  14. narf7 says

    June 30, 2013 at 1:12 pm

    This is AMAZING! I use red cabbage to make kimchi but have never thought to use it to make natural food dyes. You are a genius (so is Whole New Mum :) ). Cheers for sharing this with us and I will be trying this out ASAP. I wonder if it would run to dying cloth? Might need a bit of alum to set it. For now I am just happy that my icing and fillings can be completely homemade AND hand coloured, talk about artisan! ;)

    Reply
  15. Kim - Liv Life says

    June 28, 2013 at 11:18 pm

    I’ve been waiting for this post!!! I’m never using fake dyes again. Actually, I use them very, very infrequently just because the taste is always so yucky. LOVE this!

    Reply
  16. Nessa says

    June 28, 2013 at 5:33 pm

    This is so cool! Love it :)

    Reply
  17. ashley - baker by nature says

    June 27, 2013 at 11:50 am

    This is so fun! I actually did something similar last night for a cake I’m baking over the weekend ;) xo

    Reply
  18. Erica says

    June 27, 2013 at 6:55 am

    DOING THIS! I’m making under the sea cupcakes for Kay’s birthday and I’m totally using the blueberry method!! Thanks ;)

    Reply
    • Faith says

      June 27, 2013 at 7:08 am

      Erica, Yay, that is awesome!!! And oh my gosh, under the sea cupcakes are the cutest! :)

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Natural Rainbow Challah - What Jew Wanna Eat says:
    June 21, 2018 at 6:31 am

    […] Blue = Red Cabbage and Baking Soda (Got that idea from Faith) […]

    Reply
  2. A Blue String Pudding Recipe for my Clangers Diet » Club Adipose says:
    April 8, 2015 at 1:41 pm

    […] An Edible Mosaic: How to Make Natural Purple, Teal (Blue-Green), & Fuchsia (Purple-Pink) Food Co… – Experiments with natural food colouring, written up in detail with photos. These would be great to try with kids for some play-with-your-food fun!  […]

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Hello! I’m Faith and I write An Edible Mosaic. This is my recipe collection of international favorites and updated American classics, with an emphasis on seasonal dishes. I focus on real foods that sustain body and mind, bring people together, and make a house a home. Welcome to my mosaic of recipes.

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I’m Faith Gorsky, the writer, cook, and photographer behind An Edible Mosaic. My goal is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and try something new! Feel free to email me with questions or comments.

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