[Sca-cooks] blue food coloring

[johnna holloway]

One question regarding these problems of
authentic food colorings and dyes is the question
of food safety.

I would think that if the food is going to be eaten
and this is not being done as an inedible display piece
that one would want to err on the side of caution and
go with commercial modern food colors. It's nice to play
around the various plant and mineral chemical agents/colors
and certainly projects that explore and document these colors
and shades would be welcome, but does one really want
the responsibility (liability) associated with their use
at a feast or at a contest? Cindy's CA pamphlet carries
a warning that information in that issue could prove hazardous.
Can anyone really predict that
someone won't have an allergic reaction to what you used to
make your blue or red or yellow? Just because they made that
color in that fashion a thousand years ago doesn't mean that
one ought "poison" someone today in the name of authenticity.

What is wrong with  stating
"They would have used ingredient 1, 2 or 3.
I am substituting Wilton's cornflower blue for reasons of safety."

Johnnae llyn Lewis  Johnna Holloway
-------------------------------
As everyone said, blue is the least common & hardest to make.
I wouldn't eat anything with turnsole, indigo (Indigofera suffruticosa)
or
woad (Isatis tinctoria) in it. (But I won't eat yogurt either.)  These
were
used by infusing snippets of blue-dyed rags to release the color.
Apart from what has already been mentioned, mulberries & blackberries
make
a nice purple-red color. You could try adjusting the pH to turn the
juice
blue.
I don't have documentation for it, but if you take a jar of prepared red
cabbage & save the juice, you can make a brilliant blue by adding just a
little baking soda.
HTH,
Cindy