Study on Natural Color Extract and Synthetic Color in Food Preparation

Palash flowers are abundantly available in and around Vidarbha. These are wasted as their importance as colouring agent is not known. Synthetic colour is commonly used in food preparation and is known to have a harmful effect on health. So it was postulated to introduce colour of palash flowers in food preparation in comparison with synthetic colour. Palash flowers were collected dried two methods –sun drying and shade drying. Colour was extracted by simple household method from both the dried sampled. The shade dried sample gave a brighter orange colour and hence was used in the experiment.For comparison between natural colour and synthetic colour three recipes were selected i.e. coconut burfi, Jalebi, Sweet rice, for incorporating the colour and sensory evaluation was done by judges. To see whether there was any difference between acceptance of recipes prepared with natural colour and synthetic colour used recipes statistical‘t’ test was applied for all parameters like colour, taste, texture, acceptability. It was found that there was no significant difference between natural colour and synthetic colour used recipes in their sensory properties. Result of the study thus proved that addition of palash colour extract in recipes did not alter their acceptability and were statistically seen to reflect insignificant difference as compared to recipes prepared with synthetic colour. Colour is associated with every aspect of our lives and plays an integral role in all our behavioral decisions. From birth, nature teaches us to make value judgments on our environment based in large measure on colour. Since the act of eating represents an extremely personal behavior, in that we take part of our environment into us, it is not surprising that colour conditions our choices. Colour affects our overall judgements on the worth of food from both an aesthetic and a safety point of view. It plays an important role in taste thresholds, flavour identification. Food thus creates problems in a technologically oriented society because numbers cannot be assigned to preference, pleasantness, acceptability and ultimately food choice. However, its role is elusive and difficult to quantify. a cause-effect relationship, there is a tendency to deny the existence of that relationship. That has often led to a situation where the role of colour is either ignored or minimized which, unfortunately, has placed colour in a secondary role to the other sensory characteristics, a position which is not consistent with the facts. Indeed, the importance of colour in food choices is so unquestionable that is often taken for granted, a situation which must be re-evaluated in view of the need for the creation of new and different foods to feed a hungry world. The colour of food is a significant factor in determining its acceptance. We expect to see food looking natural; a natural appearance is appetizing, and we become cautious when a food shows an unexpected colour, interpreting it as a possible sign of spoilage, poor processing or as an indication of adulteration. The association of colour and acceptance of foods is universal, ethnical, historical and social factors and habits. What may be attractive to one group may be unappetizing or even repulsive to another.