Spinach Green.—This is perfectly harmless, and will answer most purposes. Wash and drain a sufficient quantity of spinach, pound it well in a mortar, and squeeze the pounded leaves in a coarse cloth to extract all the juice; put it in a pan and set it on a good fire, and stir it occasionally until it curdles, which will be when it is at the boiling point; then take it off and strain off the water with a fine sieve; the residue left is the green; dry it and rub it through a lawn sieve. This is only fit for opaque bodies, such as ices, creams, or syrups.
Another green is made with a mixture of saffron or gamboge and prepared indigo; the lighter the green the more yellow must be used.
Umber.—This is of a blackish brown color; it is an earth found near Cologne.
Vermilion and Cinnabar are preparations of mercury, and should never be used; they are of a lively red color, but carmine will answer most purposes instead.
Yellow.—Infuse saffron in warm water, and use it for coloring anything that is eatable. The English hay-saffron is the best; it is taken from the tops of the pistils of the crocus flower; it is frequently adulterated with the flowers of marigolds or safflower, which is known as the bastard saffron, and is pressed into thin cakes with oil. Good saffron has a strong agreeable odor, and an aromatic taste. Gum paste and other articles which are not eaten may be colored with gamboge dissolved in warm water.
Obtain any of these colors in fine powder, and mix them with some dissolved gum arabic, a little water, and a pinch of powdered sugar candy; mix them to the required consistency for painting. For sugars they must be used in a liquid state, and be added before it has attained the proper degree; it may also be used in the same manner for ices, creams, etc., and for icings it can be used either way.
THE SHADE PRODUCED BY A MIXTURE OF COLORS.
- Gold.—Yellow, with a portion of red, but the yellow must be more in excess.
- Green.—Blue and yellow.
- Lemon.—Use a solution of saffron.
- Lilac.—Mix carmine or cochineal with indigo, making the blue predominate.
- Orange.—Yellow, with a portion of red.
- Purple.—Mix carmine or cochineal, and a small portion of indigo.