Unfortunately, Little Red Riding Hood might have brought attention to herself just by wearing a red cape that day when she traipsed through the woods. One theory why humans today perceive red to be so bright and bold is that it helped primates distinguish ripe fruits from the inedible ones. Red stands out, and its vibrance makes you take notice.
Cost-Effective Natural Red Colouring for Beverages and More
The ideal food colour maximizes visual impact in a cost-effective manner. As a vertically-integrated natural colour supplier, delivering on that goal can be achieved a few ways:
Increase efficiency at every stage down to the farm level, enabling cost reduction throughout the process
Increase pigment concentration in botanicals through natural breeding to reduce cost-in-use
A key focus of Sensient’s agronomy program is to improve cost-in-use over time by increasing pigment levels in key colour crops like black carrot. “Together, our vertical integration and Seed-to-Shelf initiative enable us to provide leading food and beverage manufacturers with increased cost stability and a secure supply of colours from natural sources,” notes Paul Manning, President and CEO of Sensient Technologies. While site and varietal selection help to improve our colour botanical’s yield and crop productivity, our agronomists are additionally naturally breeding varietals for improved crop resistance and increased pigment concentration. For black carrots, this means the darkest colour with optimized root volume for anthocyanin pigment content. One example is Sensient’s patent-pending Purple Royale, a highly concentrated black carrot natural red food colouring source—a product resulting from our non-GMO botanical selective seed breeding program. 
Lower Usage Rates for Product Developers
Improved Cost-in-Use
Black Carrot in Beverages
According to Mintel, berry flavours were the second most common in the European carbonated soft drink launches during recent years. Since 2015 the number of carbonated soft drink and flavoured water launches containing black carrot grew by more than 50%, most likely due to its vibrant and appealing range of natural red shades. As an anthocyanin, it thrives in low-pH, high-water-activity systems in a wide range of beverages from sports drinks and carbonated soft drinks to Kombuchas (fermented teas) and syrups. Colour is an extremely valuable ingredient in beverages, as it enhances the overall flavour perception immediately. According to a Sensient consumer research study, more vibrant and brighter colour could increase consumer purchase intent by up to 6%, a potentially substantial financial impact. 
Black carrots are a naturally versatile and bright option for beverages, as they can provide a range of shade options from bright reds to magentas to fuchsia purples with comparable usage rates. 
However, black carrot is a very versatile natural colour ingredient, its application is not limited to only beverages: water ices, frozen novelties, yoghurts, confectioneries can all also benefit from this cost-effective red anthocyanin colourant. 
As Sensient consistently strives to innovate, discover the portfolio of black carrot options. A recent colouring food addition for low pH applications provides unique shades of red with a darker blueish or purple twist for brands to truly stand out: 
Sensient’s experts recommend Sensient’s black carrot options because they provide cost-effective natural red shade options across a range of beverages and other applications.
If you have a project that would benefit from a red or purple-red hue, request a sample!
Need help getting started or have questions about black carrot’s performance in a particular application? Schedule a consultation with me or one of our other expert colour technologists.
Tags: Cardea, Carmine Alternatives
©2023 Sensient Colors LLC, all rights reserved. THE SENSIENT trademark and the Sensient Technologies Corporation logo are owned by Sensient Technologies Corporation.
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