The beets themselves are not only healthy and beneficial to consumers
Artificial food coloring is used most widely and is a very dangerous additive in the food we eat like rainbow cereal is one example. There are many people who have an allergic reaction to it as well. But making homemade food dye is actually very easy and inexpensive.
Why do you think artificial food dye is added to food in the first place? It’s all about business. Food dye is added to the food most of us eat, is to make a food that would otherwise be off-color, look appealing. So, if you have an allergy to artificial food coloring, I would say “It’s a good thing to be allergic to!”
Table of Contents
Natural Beet Juice Red Dye Ingredients
To get the best results of making a natural red dye out of beets, you need homegrown or organic beets because they are deeper red rather than maroon/burgundy in color,
- Organic red beets - you need good quality or homegrown beet to extract the most beautifull deep red color from them.
- Water - to boil the beets in.
- Distilled vinegar - it preserves the deep red color.
Supplies I used in the making of this recipe
- Food Processor
- Cheese Cloth
How to Make Natural Beet Juice Red Dye
Simple Steps
DAY 1
- Peel, rinse, and place into a small saucepan.
- Pour 2 cups of water and bring it to a boil. As soon as the beets come to a boil, reduce the heat and let them simmer for 30 minutes.
- When beets are done boiling, remove from the heat and let cool to warm.
- Dice cooked beets, transfer them back to the original red water the beets were boiling in, and let them cool to cold releasing more red color (for at least 4 hours or overnight).
DAY 2
- Bring diced beets to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and let them
slightly boil for 15 minutes. - Remove from the heat and let it cool to cold. There will be very little liquid left and that’s normal.
- Transfer cooked diced beets into a food processor and pulse for 30 seconds.
- Finally, transfer processed beets into a cheesecloth (or any cloth with minimal holes; I made my own cheesecloth out of white curtain material).
- Squeeze the juice out as much as you need for the recipe. Add vinegar, stir, and there you go!
- Natural, no chemical added red dye for any recipe of your choice.
PS. (I do not discard the red beet scraps from the
Store extra dye in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
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📖 Printable Card
This Natural Beet Juice Red Dye has no chemicals and is perfect for coloring cake batter or frosting red or pink. Artificial food coloring is used most widely and is a very dangerous additive in the food we eat like rainbow cereal is one example. There are many people who have an allergic reaction to it as well. But making homemade food dye is actually very easy and inexpensive.
- 3 medium – homegrown or organic beets
- 2 cups (473 ml) – water
- ½ tsp. – distilled vinegar
- Supplies
- Food processor
- Cheese cloth
-
Peel, rinse, and place into a small saucepan. Pour 2 cups of water into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. As soon as the beets come to a boil reduce the heat and let it simmer for 30 minutes.
-
When beets are done boiling remove from the heat and let cool to warm. Dice cooked beets, transfer them back to the original red water the beets were boiling at, and let them cool to cold releasing more red color (for at least 4 hours or overnight).
-
Next, bring diced beets to a boil, reduce the heat to low and let the slight boil for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool to cold. There will be very little liquid left and that’s normal.
-
Transfer cooked diced beets into a food processor and pulse for 30 seconds. Finally, transfer processed beets into a cheesecloth (or any cloth with minimal holes; I made my own cheesecloth out of white curtain material).
-
Squeeze the juice out as much as you need for the recipe. Add vinegar, stir and there you go! Natural, no chemical added red dye for any recipe of your choice.
PS. (I do not discard the red beet scraps from the cheesecloth but make red borsch out of it).
Recipe you can use this natural dye for
- No-Bake Strawberry Oreo Cheesecake
- Red Velvet Berry Cake Recipe (adapted from my first blog)
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How many millilitres does this recipe yield approximately?
Depends how juicy the beets are. I would say about 250 ml.
I simply love this I made me some beetroot juice the other day with fresh Beetroot it was just awesome I like the the natural way I will be following you all the best
I'm so happy to hear that! Thank you for the kind words!
I am much convinced to use these natural beet juice red dye. As artificial food coloring is most dangerous for health.
Thanks for sharing us with the natural food color recipe. I will be trying this out tomorrow.
You're welcome! Enjoy!
Your recipe includes distilled vinegar but the directions do not say what to do with it. I'm guessing it's included in the end product for preservive purposes but I would like to know for sure if that's right. I intend to use this for Rhubarb habanero jam.
Yes, you need to add vinegar at the end as a preservative. Thanks for asking!
I have a juicer, could i just juice the beet to get the color out?
I've never tried it that way. If you do let me know how it goes.
HI, how does the beet affect the flavor of the perspective product it's used in.
No flavor, maybe a little sweetness. I use it in baking all the time. Check out the cake recipe on my main website.
Hello, thank you for this recipe. I intend to use it to make pink icing for cupcakes etc.I know you already addressed the vinegar question up there, but I don’t quite know where I’m supposed to do that. Do you mean that before you store it in your fridge for two weeks, that you should add vinegar to it? How much vinegar? Thank you so much.
You add vinegar right after squeezing the cooked beets.
Awesome 👌 I love your recipe..
I'm so happy to hear that! Thank you for an amazing review!
Yep, great recipe except I do it with lemon juice.
Great idea! I will try it too! Thanks for your feedback.