Using Food Coloring

Using food coloring has probably been around since 1000 B. C., but the colors came from the spices and the condiments that were being used during that time, and the spices and condiments came from the plants, animals and natural minerals that were widely available then.

In fact, the ancient Aztecs used the dried bodies of a female insect called Dactylopius coccus to make cochineal, which is a red dye, that believe it or not, is still being used in cosmetics, inks, medicine and food coloring.

This brings us to the versatility of food coloring, and the many ways you can use it, so let me go ahead and list the 13 other ways to use food dye or food coloring around the house.

Use Food Coloring In Glue
Anytime you need colored glue, just squirt some of your Elmer's glue into a separate container, then add the food coloring of your choice

Use It In Your Aquarium
Why not put a blue tint to the water in your aquarium by adding a few drops of blue food coloring, and you don't have to worry about it hurting your fish.

Use Food Coloring On Chicken
If you want your fried chicken to be a pretty golden brown, then add a little yellow food coloring to the oil before cooking.

Use It In Makeup
You can also use food coloring to make makeup for Halloween, or any other special event. Mix together 1 tablespoon of solid shortening, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and a few drops of food coloring. If you need different colors, divide the mixture and add the colors you need.

Use Food Coloring On The Snow
Trying to come up with winter time playing ideas for the kids? Why not make different spray bottles with water and food coloring, and give them to the kids to create designs on the snow.

Use On Your Fresh Flowers
Okay, you've got white flowers, but want to add a little color to them. Just place the stems in a container of water with a few drops of food dye, and the next morning, you will have white flowers with a tint of whatever color you added to the water.

Make Macaroni Jewelry
Just soak the dry macaroni in a bowl of water and food dye until you get the color you want, then drain and dry the macaroni before stringing your jewelry.

Use Food Coloring For Paint
Finger paint that is! Here are two recipes.

2 cups of liquid starch
2 cups of soap flakes
5 drops of food coloring

Just blend all the above ingredients together until it looks like whipped cream. You can also use this recipe...

1/4 cup of corn starch
2 cups of cold water

Boil the two items above until the mixture thickens, then pour it into separate containers and add the food dye you want to each container.

Use On Your Eggs
If you should happen to have hard boiled eggs and raw eggs in the refrigerator, you can tell them apart by adding some food coloring to the eggs when you boil them. They will take on the color you added.

Use For Gift Wrapping Paper
Take tissue paper and fold it until you get a tiny square. Make up small containers of food coloring for each color in the box, then dip each corner of the tiny square tissue paper into a container of food dye. Each corner should be a different color, and you don't want to soak the paper, just leave it in long enough to become tinted. Put the tissue someplace to dry, then unfold it and use your iron to iron the tissue flat.

Use Food Coloring On Clothes
Know how you get tiny spots on your colored clothes from bleach? Well you can repair them by mixing up different colors of food dye until you get the color you want, then cover the spot with the dye.

Use It On Paste
If you need to see how well you're covering the walls with wallpaper paste, you can add a few drops of food dye to the paste.

Use To Color Your Eggs
This time you are using the food coloring to color your eggs for Easter. Put 1 teaspoon of vinegar in each container of water, then add a few drops of food dye. The more drops you add, the deeper the color will be. Dip your egg into the mixture and leave it until you get the desired color. You can try having a mixture of pastel eggs (less time in the dye), and brilliant colored eggs (more time in the dye). You can also mix the color dyes together and see what you get.

I don't know if we will ever get completely away from food coloring, because it has been said that we generally rate food by the way it looks and its color. This is why food dye is added to so many of the consumer products today.

It was also stated that our whole perception of how something should feel, taste and smell is built solely on the color of our food, and that color also has an affect on some people's ability to recognize different flavors. So food coloring will remain with us for some time, at least until the scientist comes up with something different. I hope you enjoyed reading Using Food Coloring.

Sources:

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_coloring

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Food_coloring