The food sector is gaining momentum in our country and in the world with each passing day, and this field gains new dimensions whether in gastronomy or in products such as packaged food, beverages and confectionery. Throughout history, every culture has used different techniques and raw materials in their own cuisine to color their food and drinks. While some colorants also add added value to the taste of the product, some colorants were only intended to strengthen the color of the product or to increase the appeal of the product by giving it different colors.
These substances that give color to foods and beverages or strengthen their color are called food dyes or colorants. The International Food Codex Commission defines colorants as “substances added to regulate or impart color to food”. Many substances with coloring properties have different physical, chemical and physicochemical properties due to differences in their chemical structures, and these properties determine which type of products they will be used for and for what purpose.
Considering the development of food production technologies and the transformation of consumer needs, many formulations have been applied to ensure that the product does not lose its vitality and preserves its color in the process of processing, storing and selling the food. At this point, food manufacturers have tended to use coloring additives in their products for the purposes of preserving the original color of the food, ensuring the color uniformity of the product, increasing its attractiveness, and adding color to the colorless or less colored foods produced (confectionery, beverages, gels used in cakes, cookies,
etc.). The point reached especially in pastry shows us that not only taste but also appearance is very important. We are even aware of the existence of cakes, each more interesting and magnificent than the other, which are made only as an artistic production. The taste criterion, which is of course a very important criterion in gastronomy, is no longer considered sufficient by the demander and the combination of aesthetics and taste is considered important.
At this point, coloring agents are roughly divided into two as natural colorants and artificial colorants according to the way they are obtained. While coloring can be obtained from vegetables and fruits at home, the coloring raw materials used in the industrial environment are different. It is possible to obtain natural colorants in simple ways in our kitchens from products such as sugar beet, carrot, red cabbage, spinach, blueberry and saffron in the home environment.
Natural colorants, artificial colorants are also available, and they are produced in water and oil-soluble formulas and industrial conditions. While these colorants are primarily used by food manufacturers, the final consumer can access them and use them easily in their products. This type of colorants, which are available in powder and liquid form, are quite intense and strong. For this reason, quite a lot of food materials can be colored with a few
small drops of colorant. Likewise, colorants in powder formula are strong materials in this way.
Prepared By:
Dila Taşçı
