making green food coloring in 1864
How to Make Green Food Coloring in 1864
By Renee Shelton
Green food coloring is important in confectionery work, as with all the other colorings. There were many different ways to make a green food coloring using vegetables and other ingredients. These authentic food color recipes come from The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook and Baker, published in 1864.
Sap Green
This is prepared from the fruit of the buckthorn, and is purgative.
Spinach Green
This is perfectly harmless and will answer most purposes. Wash and drain a sufficient quantity of spinach, pound it well in a mortar, and squeeze the pounded leaves in a coarse cloth to extract all the juice; put it in a pan and set it on a good fire, and stir it occasionally until it curdles, which will be when it is at the boiling point; then take it off and strain off the water with a fine sieve; the residue left is the green; dry it and rub it through a lawn sieve. This is only fit for opaque bodies, such a ices, creams, or syrups.
Another Green from Saffron or Gamboge
Another green color is made with a mixture of saffron or gamboge, and prepared indigo; the lighter green the more yellow must be used.
Sources:
Parkinson. The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook, and Baker. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1864.
This article was first published on oldschoolpastry.pastrysampler.com on February 14, 2011. It was updated on September 30, 2020.
