COLOR CHARACTERISTICS AND STABILITY OF NONBLEEDING COCKTAIL CHERRIES DYED WITH CAROTENOID-PIGMENTS

Experimental cocktail cherries dyed with carotenoids and commercial ch erries were compared by spectrocolorimetry to determine color characte ristics and stability. Cherries dyed with canthaxanthin, apocarotenal and oleoresin paprika were more tomato- or orange-red than cherries dy ed with Red No. 40, Red No. 3, or carmine. No color bleeding was obser ved with carotenoid-dyed cherries. The color of cherries dyed with can thaxanthin was stable for 1 year at 4 degrees C. Color stability was n ot as good in cherries dyed with apo-carotenal but could be improved g reatly by addition of ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and ascor bic acid to preservative solutions in which cherries were stored.