News Chemistry

Beets bleed red but a chemistry tweak can create a blue hue

Results could pave the way for a rare natural blue pigment to color food, clothes and more

beets and blue dye made from beets

The powdered food additive maltodextrin (right) gets a splash of color from a new blue dye derived from red beets.

Avalon_Studio/E+/Getty Images plus (left); E.L. Bastos (right)

By Carmen Drahl

Beet juice is red. Now chemists turned it blue. It might have potential for consumers like you.

Natural colorings for food and cosmetics are in demand. Biology’s blue pigments, however, are tough to bottle.