Somehow, somewhere along the line, I got it into my head that ketchup was naturally white, and companies added red food coloring to make it look more palatable. But that’s not right, apparently – Google indicates that it’s naturally red.
I’m not thinking of margarine, which would be a correct answer. And I *may * be thinking of cheddar cheese, but I don’t think that’s it either. I’m pretty certain I’m thinking of a food that comes in a liquid or viscous (e.g. ketchup) form.
Anyone have an idea of what I’m talking about? Or am I simply losing my mind?
Prepared mustard (like French’s brand) is not naturally white, exactly… but the yellow color we associate with it is turmeric. Without that, it would be a much paler tan color.
Since your original idea was ketchup, that’s the best suggestion I’ve got to offer.
Lemonade, at least the pink kind. OK, if you use Grenadine to color it, then it also offsets the sour taste some, but most of the commercial offerings are just food coloring.
Most commercial marmelades, fruit jams are colored.
In Sweden, most jams are not allowed to be colored with dyes-so your strawberry jam is kinda grey, not red at all.
Really? That’s very odd to me. I do my own canning, and my jams/jellies are very similar in colouring with the commercial ones though sometimes a bit lighter in tone. My marmalade is more obviously less bright than the store bought but still has the same colours.
My understanding (at least from Tillamook factory tour) is that cheddar is not naturally white, necessarily, but a yellowish color that can vary quite a bit depending on various factors. So cheese makers added coloring to even it out and that just became the norm expected by consumers.
Don’t know if that is true or just cheese maker urban legend spewed for the tourists (the Wiki page does not mention this).
Mint chocolate chip ice cream and margarine are two white foods that usually have color added to them. At one time the dairy lobby won a law that margarine could not be sold with the food coloring added and it was sold along a bit of yellow food coloring for the customer to mix in at home.
Ditto for all the home canned strawberry and raspberry jams and preserves I’ve ever had. My mom, grandmother and various aunts canned preserves for years and they were always the same color as the commercial varieties, without any additives.
Farmed Salmon: the fish are fed red food coloring to turn their flesh to the expected, well, salmon hue. (Wild salmon eat crustaceans that provide the color). Otherwise they’d be white like most other fish.
Cooked strawberries do sometimes turn a sort of dull pinkish-maroon colour - some of this depends on the variety of strawberry - whether it’s one with crimson flesh or whitish pink.
Butter is not naturally yellow- it’s pale, like milk, and only barely yellow-ish in its natural state.
Also the pickled ginger you eat with sushi is not naturally pink. It’s dyed with beet juice (or dye). Ginger is white. I believe wasabi is not naturally green, either but don’t kow its natural color.