A recent article in the New York Times reported an increased demand for fruits and vegetables that can be used as natural dyes as the European Union’s Jan. 1, 2010 deadline to require warning labels on synthetically colored foods approaches.
According to the Times, purple carrots are a great source of natural vegetable dyes and have been around thousands of years longer than orange carrots. The purple carrots are especially high in the antioxidant anthocyanin, a free-radical-fighting plant pigment that also colors blueberries and red wine grapes.