Product Test: TruColor Natural Gel Colors in Royal Icing

[@teenascakes]

Thanks for the great review!So glad natural food coloring is getting better. I try and make all my baked goods out of real ingredients and cringe every time I drop food coloring into my icing.So excited that the company is listening to an expert, and that a great product is in the making. Can't wait to see what it does in real buttercream. And I am so glad you pointed out the effect of acids in natural color. I love your videos !

[@mackandnorm]

What a thorough review Julia! Thank you for sharing! I too like that the acidity from the lemon actually gave you that great range of colours with the TruColor purple grape!

[@mackandnorm]

Pink is my favourite colour so might have to get some of these TruColor Purple Grape & Purple Carrot to try ; )

[@lynnemorrison4946]

I lice your time you have

[@billdonaldson3699]

Nice video Julia, thanks for all your help, we appreciate your comments and are committed to developing better natural colors. We can't wait until you test the next generation of colors we have developed, some of which never would have come to realization without your insight.

[@billdonaldson3699]

We honestly believe our kids and future generations are dependent on what we are trying to acomplish!

[@paulanderson1476]

Hi Bill, Ive dropped you a note on Google hangout, but to be honest I;m not overly sure how it works, If you get chance please have a read, I dont want to hijack your thread. If it doesnt come thru my email is [e-mail] With reference to facebook.com/pages/Clairella-Cakes/173611701563?fref=ts

[@lorenlash9174]

Wow, that was fantastic. I'm trying to do my research on Trucolor products and you've offered such a comprehensive look at them...even if it was 4 years ago. Thank you!

[@daneekaps]

Excellent review. I thoroughly enjoyed your take on the True Colors vs. other colors. I am not surprised that you aren thrilled to play with the acid content to achieve new colors. That scientific background shines through. I too would love that....if I actually decorated cookies like you do...I stick to Toll House but love watching you decorate yours.

[@Hanielas]

That was such thorough review Julia, thanks for that. I was really wondering about TruColor natural food colorings and this video explains so much about them. Thank You *****

[@Hanielas]

***** That is great to know that they are coming up with more acid stable color, I love using lemon royal icing little too much I think. :-) I can totally appreciate your hard work on this video and I know it is a lot of work, all the testing and mixing etc. .It is great to see natural food colorings in action like this. It is a rare treat. Though the shelf life is not as long as artificial colors I think I can totally appreciate healthier option available on the market. Thank you Julia, I really enjoyed this video.

[@jessicamcelroy6498]

So much effort goes into these videos! The time and resources this must take is astounding. Thank you so much for sharing all this work.

[@krazykoolcakes]

Wonderful review Julia! I'm definitely going to give these a try! :)

[@jeremyolson2551]

Thank you for making such a great review. Great to know how the acidity affects the color so much. I'll be trying out the purples next week, now I'm ready.

[@TaraMorse]

That was one of the best and most thorough reviews I've seen. Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to do such a great review. I decorate just for family and friends, so I like the idea of a more natural colorant. I love how thoroughly you do all of your tutorials also. Thank you.

[@debbihook]

Excellent review Julia - I can't wait to try all my new colors. Your information will save many steps of trial and error for me!

[@marginator007]

That was really well done! You should do more reviews of interesting and upcoming products, I enjoyed the data collecting before forming your final conclusion.

[@sugarcoder]

This is such a thorough review and comparison, Julia! Thank you for sharing this! :D

[@marishlo]

This was a wonderfully helpful video! Would it be possible to request an update video to this one? Because TruColor has so many more option now, and India Tree is proclaiming on amazon the be a new "better blue". I've been adventuring into macarons and always buy natural and organic ingredients, and so would love to see some color tests! Thanks!

[@parnianx]

This is such a great video! I'm so glad somebody touched on this topic considering all the hidden long term side effects of artificial colors. Such detailed comparison, thank you!!!

[@parnianx]

That would be awesome! I'm still trying different natural colors trying to find my favorite! I will be looking forward to your opinion on that if you decide to post another video in regards to Chefmaster's natural color range :) Thank you once again!

[@tabulouskat5969]

Thank you so very much! I needs some sort of food coloring for something I am baking for thanksgiving, but one of our guests are pregnant, and my cousin has an allergy to one of the chemicals in the artificial food coloring. This was very helpful! Definitely going to purchase sometime this week!😃

[@amalalalim1214]

Hello Julia Thanks for the information. Very helpful. For me I found True Color is time and material consuming. To prepare, to keep and to use more tools and utensils. Also, to prepare, cover and chill or freeze. I prefer the ready to use ones. My question for you is why you did not compare also with the Wilton style food color. Love your videos. Do you have any video about how to use imposed rolling pins and decorating these cookie? Thanks again

[@TheHouseofYah]

great and thorough review Julia! I'm wondering how the black Tru Color gel works and how much is needed to get a true black.Have you tried it at all? I know they are on the market now.

[@dymondblue]

Great demo as always Julia! Was wondering.. did you notice how the TruColor did with bleeding? I've been waiting on more info for this product since you talked with them in a Cookie Con video! Thanks so much :)

[@elizabethandfitzwilliam9709]

Hi Julia, Thanks so much for all of this information! Have you had a chance yet to review the second generation of Tru Color? (I apologize if I've overlooked it). Have they made any additional generations since this video was filmed? Thank you!

[@uujerri5728]

Gosh thank you Julia. I use Maggie's Naturals and have gotten good results from them too.

[@AngelaM745]

Good review! Wonder if mixing tiny amounts of powder directly would be easier, but if it came on the market here in the Netherlands I would definitely would want to try it... :)

[@dianecornelius5234]

Thanks so much for this! You answered all the questions I had! Great video!

[@chrissiehruszycky5754]

great vid. just wondering on the flavour? Artificial colouring has a distinctive flavour of processness with one drop or ten. Did you taste TruColor within the icing?

[@glendeloid9210]

I got some of these for macarons, and the hot pink is working out great, but a mix of their bright red and yellow to get orange turned a weird faded grey-green in the meringue. I tested the color with acid (cream of tartar, vinegar) and it was stable, and in a buttercream, and it looked good, but something about the meringue wrecked it completely. Are egg whites basic? I didn't test the color in base. Oh well, I'm making hot pink macarons now.

[@glendeloid9210]

Yes, I did use cream of tartar, but I'd tested the effect of a bit of cream of tartar and even vinegar in a sample of the color paste/gel before I added it to the meringue, and it had no effect, so I think it was stable in acid. But I just read that egg whites are initially neutral but become basic with storage (pH 8.9-9.4) due to loss of CO2 through the shell, so I'm guessing the cream of tartar wasn't enough to offset that, and that the dyes were not stable at that high pH. I'll have to bring some into the lab at work and do some more careful testing. Thanks for your help!

[@shariannette]

Thanks for the video I am into natural products and I did not even know these brands even existed.

[@cindychrisafoudis9094]

I was not very satisfied with True Color. I was never able to get my colors dark/bright enough. Their leaf green turned out looking more like pale avocado grayish color. I used buttercream icing and distilled water....

[@giulianaeuripide7343]

These are so helpful cause I always want to make colors with icing I am 11 turning 12 next month and I really want to try to do this

[@giulianaeuripide7343]

***** you are right cause whenever I use the artifical stuff I can taste it

[@wholesomebakery789]

Thanks for making this. It helped a ton!!

[@elcomandante80]

What happens if you add the powder directly to the icing?

[@lisalisa3110]

Can you mix the powder straight into icing or batter?

[@gmaureen]

I personally don't like the taste of artificial colors....think red/purple velvet cake...so, hopefully, these natural colors also provide a better flavor.

[@ibraviragazzi]

Hello, after 9 years are there any developments on these plant-based colors? Can you recommend any colors and also plant-based flavors without chemicals today? Thanks for the content.☺

[@JuliaMUsher]

No, I am not aware of any developments here. So sorry.

[@ibraviragazzi]

@@JuliaMUsher thanks for your answer... can you indicate some brands of flavors of natural origin without chemistry inside?

[@JuliaMUsher]

@@ibraviragazzi Just the ones mentioned in the video; so sorry, I haven't spent time tracking natural food colorings since this video. But I haven't heard of any new advancements, so my best recommendation is to check out the brands already mentioned here.

[@jessiemorton2047]

could you use these colors for beauty products

[@mariacosta-fs4xb]

hi. I use a royal icing with merengue powder and I am trying to find a way to get the die color to be darker. I've tried Wilton but i only seem to get pastel colors. when i tried red it came out pink and when i added more color, the flavor was nasty. i would love to be able to get a real navy blue, red or even black. Please help!

[@mariacosta-fs4xb]

***** thank you so much for your quick response. does the color come out differently if you use icing with egg whites vs icing with merengue powder?

[@Phoenixhope1]

Are the trucolors natural food gel out yet????!!!!???!!

[@Phoenixhope1]

Ok!

[@1948DESMOND]

i was looking for Trucolor movies !!!

[@ClydeDay]

I know you kept bringing up the health issue, but really is the "healthy" impact really that great considering you're not eating a ton of this stuff. I mean were really only talking about a drop of coloring. It's really not going to make a huge impact on saying it's "healthier" than the artificial coloring when we are only talking about a couple of drops, and then those drops are spread out over how many cookies.

[@mccosha]

To some people, who react to artificial colorants, one bite is enough to cause serious problems. I search high and low and always choose natural over artificial anything. The logical fallacy that if it is a little it's not so bad is just that - a fallacy. A lot of "a litttles" make a lot of a lot.

[@ClydeDay]

I didn't know people could have a strong reaction to the dyes. I was merely pointing out that the nutritional benefits from any kind of food coloring is minuscule. were talking maybe .00000000001%

[@ClydeDay]

***** thanks for the article. I learn something new every day. :)

[@felicianoel4880]

Is Chefmaster brand artificial or natural ?

[@felicianoel4880]

Julia M Usher thank you

[@raquelbates434]

Amazing :)

[@cbmissy3065]

Cool thanks

[@XantiaD]

Product testing isn't really accurate if the first thing you do is *not* follow instructions.