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If you tune in to The Cook Up with Adam Liaw on SBS Food when host Adam Liaw makes a blue drink out of lemon juice and red cabbage, you're bound to question what's going on.
Turns out, there's a method behind Liaw's culinary madness. Next, he throws in a good serve of sugar and waits. "My blue lemon juice becomes pink lemonade," Liaw tells viewers. "It is a great thing to do with kids. And by the time you get to this point, they'll have forgotten they're drinking sweetened cabbage juice."
The Cook Up episode on cooking with colour features naturally colourful meals and drinks – there's not an artificial colouring in sight.
Eat the rainbow
Rainbow ricotta gnocchi
Purva Gulyani, a home cook and accredited practising dietitian from Diet Yumm, is a big believer in eating colourful dishes made with natural ingredients. In her Indian culture, colour is life so natural food dyes are a given.
It is a great thing to do with kids. And by the time you get to this point, they'll have forgotten they're drinking sweetened cabbage juice.
"We believe that dishes of a certain colour convey meaning," says Gulyani, who's also a member of Dietitians Australia. "In the Hindu religion, there are even days of the week where you're supposed to wear or eat specific colours."
Tuesday is a red, orange or dark brown day.
Meanwhile, Thursday is all about yellow and Saturday is black. "If you intend to make a food offering on a Saturday, you could make a black dish using mustard oil or black pulses."
Chocolate cupcakes with pink velvet icing. Source: Desiree Nielsen
Gulyani says you need to know which fruits, vegetables, legumes, herbs and spices to use to get the colour you want. For example, adding yellow turmeric to a dish can easily turn it yellow thanks to its active ingredient, curcumin.
"Turmeric is a natural colouring agent that can be used for desserts, milk preparations or marinades."
Saffron contains the carotenoid chemical crocin, which can give a dish a yellow, orange or red colour. Paprika derives its bright orange-red colour from a compound called carotenoids.
Turmeric and aniseed cake. Source: Feast magazine / Brett Stevens
"Coriander powder and garam masala may also be added to brown caramelised onions to produce a natural brown colour."
Then there are fruits and vegetables that contain anthocyanins – coloured water-soluble pigments. Berries, grapes and currants, and some tropical fruits, have high amounts of anthocyanins and can be used to give your cooking red, purple or blue hues.
Other natural food colourings include:
Blue pea flower dumplings. Source: Sharyn Cairns
- beetroot, tomato and red lentils (red)
- red cabbage (with lemon juice or baking soda) and butterfly pea flower (blue)
- hibiscus flower and purple carrot (purple)
- matcha, leafy green vegetables and green herbs (green)
- sweet potato and carrot (orange)
- black turtle beans and cuttlefish ink (black)
- coffee, tea and cocoa (brown)
"As humans, we're wired to be in tune with the colours of nature, so the colour of a dish influences how we feel about that dish, it's perceived flavour and actual taste," Guryani says.
"Dishes that are made naturally colourful, by the addition of more fruits and vegetables, will also have added health benefits. It's a win-win."
ALL THE COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW
Rainbow beef
