ColorMaker

ColorMaker Beta-Carotene has been used for centuries to provide a yellow to orange color to foods and cosmetics. Beta-carotene is probably the best known of the largest family of pigments produced by nature, the Carotenoids. Although abundant and extractable from various sources, the beta-carotene utilized by the color industry is made synthetically. This is a relatively new development, with commercial production starting around 1954. This form of beta-carotene, as well as canthaxanthin and apo-8’-carotenal similarly synthesized, are permitted for use as color additives in the US and Europe and are usually referred to as “nature-identical.”.

ColorMaker Annatto is orange-yellow color and is extracted from the seed coats of a tropical tree, Bixa orellano. The tree has heart-shaped leaves and small pink to white flowers bearing pods, which on maturing, contain hundreds of rust-colored seeds. The rust-colored resinous material surrounding the seed is the source of annatto. The chemical name for the color principle of annatto is Bixin. It is hard to believe that the rich golden color of cheddar cheese actually comes from a plant.

ColorMaker Chlorophyll is bright green, but pheophytin (without a magnesium atom) is a dull, drab, olive green. In time, pheophytin breaks down further and turns muddy brown.

ColorMaker Titanium Dioxide is used extensively in the food, nutritional, cosmetic, personal care, medical, and paint industries. The paint industry is the largest consumer of titanium dioxide, followed by the cosmetic industry. In the food industry, titanium dioxide may be used in candy, coatings, baked goods, frostings, ice cream, and sauces. Titanium dioxide can be suspended in solution with gums in beverages, where it delivers both whiteness and milky opacity without being a dairy ingredient.

ColorMaker Saffron is of high quality as the individual stigmas are reselected before processing. The use of saffron as a yellow colorant dates back to before the 23rd century B.C. It is made by collecting the stigmas of the flower of the crocus bulb, Crocus sativin. Flowers are grown worldwide, with the majority coming from Iran.

ColorMaker Caramel is a golden brown (honey or amber) color to a deep dark almost-black brown (coffee or cola) color. It is always water-soluble in either liquid or powdered form and is prepared by the controlled heating of food grade carbohydrates with or without added chemical catalysts.

ColorMaker Beet have been cultivated as a table vegetable in all temperate climes for many thousands of years. Who has not experienced the deep red-purple color of the broth after boiling beets? In traditional processing, the beets are prepared by blanching, cutting, hydraulic pressing of the root and vacuum concentrating the filtered expressed liquid to 60-65% total solids. The juice can be spray-dried to a free-flowing pink-red powder with maltodextrin added as a carrier to obviate the stickiness one usually gets with high sucrose containing liquids. The pigments extracted are made up of yellow fractions and a red fraction chemically called betanin, representing 75-95% of the total color present.

ColorMaker Iron Oxide is an insoluble mineral pigment. Consequently, its use in foods is limited. In comparison, iron oxide is used extensively in the cosmetic industry where it is combined with titanium dioxide to make a host of red, pink, beige, tan, and black colors. It is also combined with mica, making a wide variety of “pearlescent” colors used extensively in the cosmetic industry.

ColorMaker Grape is bright red colorant required the labor of hundreds of subjects combing the desert in search of the cochineal insect. In the ancient world of the Aztecs, carmine was the homage of kings. It was considered more valuable than gold.