Natural color innovation: Red and yellow and pink and green, orange and purple and blue?
While DDW is not yet the size of some of its competitors in all of the natural colors it supplies, it has a strong position in annatto, says global application scientist Jody Renner-Nantz.
"We're a primary producer of annatto color, which is widely used in cheese, but is also used in ice cream, snack seasonings, popcorn oil, cheese sauces and so on.
"We extract it from the orange outer coat surrounding the seeds of the plant, which grows in east Africa, Vietnam, India and parts of South America.
"Bixin is the oil soluble form of annatto, but we can also turn it into Norbixin, which is water soluble – which reduces the need for emulsifiers or gums.
"Our extracts are available as water soluble, emulsions, or oil soluble - and we also have certified organic versions. We can also blend it with turmeric to go more yellow or with paprika to create a more red/orange color."
Annatto doesn't work in most beverages
So what are its pros and cons as a color?
It's perfect for cheese and dairy products where it binds to proteins and has excellent stability, she says. It can also cope with the extrusion process used in snacks and cereal products.
However, annatto doesn't work in beverages as it imparts an earthy flavor and is unstable in acidic formulations and upon exposure to light, she says.
