Colour trends have come a long way over the years. If you’d told someone in the 1950s that rainbow wedding cakes are going to dominate for years they would’ve scoffed. Equally so imagine telling someone from the 1980s that neon green was destined for the scrap heap I’m sure you’d have been met with similar contempt. But here we are. A previously obscure colour that has shot to popularity is maroon. Often confused with burgundy, the rich red combination has become a popular colour request. While you can buy maroon food colouring outright it isn’t always that easy. If you want to know how to make maroon food colouring when you don’t have maroon food colouring you’re in the right place.
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Maroon Food Colouring
The colour maroon is a combination of red and brown. On the colour chart, you will find it in the dark reds grouped with crimson and burgundy which it is confused for. To clear up any doubt burgundy is a mixture of red and purple and will appear brighter than maroon. What complicates making maroon food colouring is that brown food colouring isn’t very popular so simply mixing brown and red food colouring is not an option that will be available to everybody all the time. It is difficult but not impossible to make your maroon food colouring and here is how.
Tips When Working With Food Colouring
Achieving a colour when working with food colouring is more of an art than a science. Firstly colours will look different on different surfaces and in pictures so you may find the shade of maroon you are aiming for will require a little tweaking. Secondly, the wide variety of shades make pinpointing an exact colour very difficult. When working with food colouring you want to add as little as possible particularly at the mixing stage. It is much better to add more later than to have food that has gone beyond the point of no return. With that in mind, we can now talk about ways to make maroon food colouring.
Red and Brown
If you’re lucky enough to have red and brown food colouring this is a good place to start. You will need to initially mix 1 part of red food colouring and 3 parts of brown food colouring. When working with food colouring remember you will only see the final colour in the food being made. So if say you are trying to make maroon icing you must mix the food colouring into the icing. If your initial mix isn’t quite the shade you wanted there is nothing to be alarmed about. If it is bright add a small amount of brown food colouring then mix again. If it is dull add red food colouring.
Red And Violet
Red and violet can be used to create a maroon food colouring however you will need to be mindful of the shade. We’ve already talked about how maroon and burgundy are confused for each other but not quite how much they are confused for each other. Made all the more confusing by our association with colours as we are taught growing up. So red and violet is best used if your understanding of maroon is closer to purple. That said you can achieve the colour by mixing 3 parts red and one part violet food colouring. If you don’t have red you can substitute rose pink for it but instead using six parts rose pink to one part violet. Mix the colours in and check the shade of maroon you get. You can use additional red to brighten it or violet to deepen in.
Burgundy And Red
If you could only find burgundy food colouring while looking for maroon do not despair. All you need is some red food colouring to blend with the burgundy to get your maroon food colouring. Burgundy is a mix of purple and red where maroon is a mix of red and brown. To bring the burgundy closer to maroon we mix in additional bright red food colouring. Use two parts burgundy to one part red food colouring and mix. You will likely need to add a little more red to achieve most shades of maroon. Add in small dashes and mix to assess.
Purple Food Colouring
Purple food colouring can help you achieve maroon food colouring under the right circumstances. This works well if you are making icing that also includes chocolate. The mixture of the deep brown in chocolate and the purple will bring out a maroon. Simply add the amount of purple food colouring that corresponds with your amount of icing and mix well. You may find you need to add a little more purple food colouring to deepen the maroon.
Crimson, Red, Brown And Orange
Crimson, red, brown and orange are very popular food colours that are easy to find in many supermarkets and speciality ingredients stores. You can use a mixture of these four colours to get maroon food colouring if you have no other option. We’ve already discussed mixing red and brown food colouring to get maroon. The other two colours here will help you open up to more shades of maroon. This is useful if you’re making a cake or food that requires a graduating scale of shades of maroon. You will need to mix 8 parts crimson, 1 part red, 1 part brown and half a part orange to get your maroon colour.
Creating your maroon food colouring is not an exact science but rather an art. If you cannot find red and brown food colouring you can resort to combinations like red and burgundy. If you’re using icing with chocolate in it consider adding purple food colouring to it to get your maroon food colouring.
