[Sca-cooks] blue food coloring

[jenne at fiedlerfamily.net]

> 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.

Well, there's no guarantee someone wouldn't have an allergic reaction to
the commercial food color-- in fact, it's very common.

On the other hand, some period colors are still commerically used (there's
some volumes on commercial food colorings, I'll look for the titles).

> 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."

Nothing wrong with that if you want to do it that way.

-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa   jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
"The art of losing isn't hard to master;/so many things seem filled with
the intent/to be lost that their loss is no disaster.
Lose something every day. Accept the fluster/of lost door keys, the hour
badly spent." -- "One Art", Elizabeth Bishop