Naturally Colored Sprinkles

by Pavithra Arunkumar

3.2K8130

Intro: Naturally Colored Sprinkles

In this instructable, I would like to show you how to make a Natural Colored Sprinkles from scratch using the colors extracted from vegetables like Beetroots, Carrots, Spinach and Red Cabbage without using any artificial ingredients, dyes or raw egg.

STEP 1: Ingredients

1) Beetroot - 1/3 Cup

2) Carrot - 1/3 Cup

3) Spinach - 1/3 Cup

4) Red Cabbage - 1/3 Cup

5) Turmeric - 1/8 Tsp

6) Confectioner's Sugar (Powdered Sugar) - 1/2 Cup

7) Corn Starch - 1 1/2 Tsp

8) Vanilla Extract (Any extract can be used) - 1/2 Tsp

9) Water - required to blend

STEP 2: Puree the Vegetables

Beets/ Carrots/ Spinach:

1) Puree vegetables in a juicer or a blender. (I used Blender)

2) When using a blender, add little water to blend the vegetables.

3) Then filter the vegetable puree in order to remove the crushed vegetable pieces.

Red Cabbage :

1) Boil the chopped red cabbage in water (covering the cabbage) till the water turns dark purple. Then strain the purple water. Keep it aside.

2) Take some of the purple water and add little by little of Baking soda to obtain Blue color.

Turmeric :

1) It can be added directly to the batter in the powdered form in a very little quantity(If added in excess overpowers the taste)

STEP 3: Making the Sprinkles

1) Sift the powdered sugar along with cornstarch in order to remove any lumps present.

2) Take a portion of sifted powdered sugar and cornstarch, add vanilla extract and the desired vegetable puree little by little.

3) Mix well to form a batter with smooth and little thick paste consistency (not very thick. should be able to pipe it using a piping bag)

4) Similarly make the batter for all the vegetable puree separately.(different extracts like almond, lemon can be used)

5) Transfer the mixture into disposable piping bags (I used individual Ziploc bags for each color) and cut the edge making a small hole or use a very small round tip

6) Line a cookie sheet with wax paper or parchment paper.

7) Pipe out long lines across the parchment paper.

8) Let dry undisturbed in a cool place for about 24 hours or until dry to touch

9) Gently break the lines into small pieces and store the sprinkles in the airtight container for up to 3 months.

Naturally Made Rainbow Sprinkles are Ready !

STEP 4: Experiment!!!

Boiling Method: [Boiling the vegetables in water and using the boiled water]

1) The color obtained from boiling the vegetables is lighter as it is diluted.

2) water content is more.

3) As the color obtained is lighter it is needed in higher quantity.

4) The taste is diluted when compared to juice method.

Juice Method : [Blending the vegetables]

1) The color obtained from the vegetable juice is more vibrant.

2) less water content.

3) As the color obtained is vibrant it is needed in less quantity.

4) It is likey to taste a little stronger than the boiling method.

I tried both the method and used the Juice method for making sprinkles since I need the color with less water content.

STEP 5: Reusing & Other Applications

1) The vegetable puree can be frozen and stored for future use.(I used ice cube tray)

2) Vegetable puree can be used as water color paint when it is frozen.

3) The vegetable puree can be used to naturally color cupcake frosting, Play-Doh and homemade finger paints etc..

28 Comments

tamethapatrick 4 years ago

This is exactly what I was searching for. Thank you so much. The possibilities for these are endless!! 😍

babybayrs 8 years ago

I have always wanted to use vegetables and fruits for coloring. Except using blue berries to dye spider web on eggs: ttp://www.instructables.com/id/Halloween-spiderweb-eggs/ I haven't gotten time to do much other experiments. Now you have beaten me on it. I voted for you. Making them into sprinkles is a great idea!

Pavithra Arunkumar 8 years ago

The spiderweb egg was awesome !!! I liked it a lot :) Even I prefer to use vegetables and fruits for coloring. Everything needs to be colorful for my daughter. She is the inspiration for the sprinkles. Thank you very much for the kind words and your vote :) Have a great day !

babybayrs 8 years ago

She is so cute for loving colors! I wouldn't have learned to do Many things in my life, had they not been for my children. I guess they bring the good out of us.

FreckledR 8 years ago

Totally trying this next time I need to colour things!

Jmintuck1912 8 years ago

Want a really good treat? Do this with homemade ice cream!

Jmintuck1912 8 years ago

Say that some kid responds poorly to artificial food colours, this is a fab idea. Also, health-conscious ppl would love it.

satoko68 8 years ago

Very cool! Love this idea a lot. I'm thinking that the fresh vegetable puree could also be used to paint, watercolour style, directly onto fondant or iced cookies. This formulation could also be used to decorate sugar or shortbread cookies simply by piping the design on with an icing bag.

Also wanted to mention that dry beet juice crystals can now be bought in health food stores, which could give you anything from a light pink to red to a vibrant maroon. Since there's no need to add very much liquid with this concentrated form, it allows for more flexibility I would imagine.

These colours are vibrant & gorgeous, not to mention completely nontoxic, so there are many possible uses for this. Can't wait to try it!

ThisIsMyNameOK 8 years ago

I'm not sure the vegetable pureé would work that way.... It would have to be done right before consuming the baked goods when there are no preservatives. They might turn brown too. But I could be wrong.

Thanks for the tip about the beet juice crystals. Sounds interesting.

satoko68 8 years ago

Maybe I wasn't clear in my comment :-) I meant using the vegetable puree to color the icing that's piped or spread on the cookies. That type of icing hardens up fairly quickly, rendering it more or less the same as the lines you piped out here to make the sprinkles. Using it watercolour style with paint brushes on top of fondant might also work as fondant would be a fairly dry base to paint on. Air brushes & specialty 'inks' etc are used to paint on fondant all the time, so it's worth giving your method a try. The vegetable 'dyes' you've made would have to have a stabilizer added to them in this case I think, though, as they'd be exposed to the air moreso than those added to the icing sugar & mixed in. So the colours don't turn brown, as you mentioned. I'd like to try both ways - with & without a stabilizer.

Another idea for natural green food dye: spirulina. It's already dry, very concentrated in color, and wouldn't take much to get the desired effect.

Thanks again :-)

ThisIsMyNameOK 8 years ago

Thanks for the clarification, but I'm not the author. Although I do have quite a lot of experience decorating cakes and cookies, I have never made my own dye. The closest I've come is occasionally using something like cherry juice in a pinch when I don't have any food colouring handy.

Pavithra Arunkumar 8 years ago

I always wanted to use natural food coloring from veggies and fruits but was little doubtful about the change in flavor and texture of the dish. When I tried out the sprinkles it came out really good. I tried out playdoh, watercolor color painting on paper, both turned out good. With frosting It was little runny compared to gel color. This is my first experience with natural coloring and was satisfying. Would like to try out more in future. Thank you ThisIsMyNameOK and satoko68 for your inputs.

ThisIsMyNameOK 8 years ago

Thanks for sharing the instructions for making this. You have some very creative ideas. :)

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