Purple

The first purple pigments recorded appeared during the Neolithic era when prehistoric artists in France drew animals and outlines on the walls of their caves. The works are from between 16,000-25,000 BC. The purple color came from sticks of manganese and hematite. Hematite typically produces red, but if the particles are large, it also gives purple. After the neolithic period, we don’t see these pigments again until the modern era. (18-20)

Rarely purple Purple in paintings were quite rare before the mid 1800s. Paintings from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and medieval Islamic cultures don’t have purple. And a review of nearly 140,000 works of art in museums in 42 countries revealed that before the mid-1800s, the color purple appeared in less than 4% of the paintings. It’s not likely to have been because a purple pigment didn’t exist; combining red and blue produces purple shades. One explanation could be that we don’t see very much purple in nature. Not because it isn’t there, but because human eyesight doesn’t detect it. If we don’t see it, why would early painters paint it? (21)

However, the review showed that the number of paintings with purple increased significantly in the mid-1800s from 4% to 37% and by the 1900s it was up 48%. (21) Why is that?

The science of purple It turns out French chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul discovered the law of simultaneous contrast – that is, colors appear more intense when placed next to their complementary color. In 1864 an influential art critic Charles Blanc wrote an article about it that culminated in a book called "The Grammar of Painting and Engraving." This work directly inspired painters of the time. (21)

So small wonder that the Impressionists embrace purple. We don’t encounter purple much in the natural world, but these artists weren’t replicating what they saw. They focused on producing color impressions instead, and fully embraced the art of contrasting colors. And the best contrast for yellow sunlight, for example, was purple. Monet began using purple instead of black to portray light and shade, preferring to use color rather than “lack of color.” The pre-Raphaelite painters of the same period also began to use purple to enhance and dramatize their scene. Artists used purple so much that critics accused them of “violettomania.” Then the color then began to spread into fashion, interior and industrial design.

In the 1900s purple became a popular color for symbolic pieces, and things imagined and not seen. (18,21,22)

Purple dyes While many cultures made a dull purple cloth by first dying it with a blue like from the woad plant and then dying it red, there have been two significant discoveries of purple dye. First for the elite, and then for the masses.

Tyrian purple Sometime around 1600 B.C.E. in the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre, craftsmen began producing purple dye by crushing, drying, and then boiling small sea snail shells. It was a messy, smelly business and took great quantities of shells to produce enough dye for a single garment. One source said it took 250,000 snails to make one ounce of purple dye, and one pound of purple wool cost more than average year’s salary. But the color was intense and long lasting. Only affordable by nobility, purple became associated with royals in the ancient civilizations of Rome, Japan, Persia, Egypt, and Constantinople. (22,23)

Julius Caesar discovered the color while visiting Cleopatra’s palace and made it illegal for others to wear it. A few decades later, Nero made it a capital offense for anyone but royalty to wear it. Byzantine royals covered the birthing chambers with Tyrian cloth so it would be the first thing the new princelings saw. Rome eventually fell, but the status of Tyrian purple remained.

Later, Roman catholic bishops adopted the color, as did European royalty. But in 1453 the great dye works of Constantinople were destroyed and purple was gradually replaced in Europe by scarlet, made from cochineal. (20,24)

While Tyrian purple steals the storytelling show, it’s worth mentioning that Japan produced purple dye using similar methods called “murasaki” which was also a forbidden color that was off limits to commoners. A similar purple dye has also been associated with Central American textiles. (24,25)

Synthetic mauveine 18-year-old chemist assistant William Henry Perkin fell across the first synthetic dye in 1856 when he was working with coal tar as a potential cure for malaria. While cleaning out a flask he discovered a purple solution had formed. His family encouraged him to test it as a dye for cloth, and when it tested well his father financed a factory for him and his brother. They quickly brought his patented purple color called Mauveine to the Victorian mass market. And that's how a color once reserved for the elite became inexpensive and available to everyone. (26)

The tastes we universally associate with purple are equally sweet and sour, which is no surprise when thinking about the taste of late summer purple berries. (27) All those wonderful fruit flavors are applied to manufactured food as well, together with more sophisticated flavors like lavender and violets. Ube ice cream, a flavor originating from the Philippines, is also purple. And just as purple has always sparked our imaginations, it’s a favorite color for made up extravaganzas, like purple velvet or purple moon ice creams or purple thunder soda.

In packaging, if purple isn’t used to represent a flavor it often is used for indulgence products. Adding gold or silver accents give a sense of exclusivity and exceptional quality. (28)

Artificial purple colors Of the 9 approved artificial food colors in the USA, none of them are purple. But just like the painting masters of old, blending blue and red produce purple. In the case of food colors, it’s usually Blue 1 (aka Brilliant Blue) and Red 3 (aka Erythrosine). Both colors are also legal to use in the EU, although a warning label about artificial colors is required. (29)

Natural purple colors Luckily, there's no need to use artificial purple food colors because excellent natural food color alternatives are available. Depending on your market, you can use blue from spirulina, jagua fruit or gardenia blue, and there are many reds/pinks to choose from, like Hansen sweet potato, purple sweet potato, red beet, grape, black carrot, and cochineal. As the largest provider of natural food colors to the food manufacturing industry, we’d like to help you find the perfect purple for your next project.

No one knows color like nature, but no one knows natural color like us. With Oterra, you not only tap into our wide portfolio of compliant natural food colors, but you also get access to our world-class application expertise and the knowledge that we control the value chain of each of our raw materials.

We want to revolutionize the way the world colors food, naturally. Whether you’re considering natural colors for the first time or need assistance with a specific challenge, we’re here to help.