What is the red dot on steamed bread during the Spring Festival?

The red spots on steamed bread should be food pigments, such as carmine, which is edible. Most natural pigments are made from natural colored plants. These colored plant components, such as skins, shells, leaves and residues, are often comprehensively utilized. Some are made of animals, such as lac pigment (cochineal pigment), and some are made of microorganisms, such as monascus pigment.

The preparation method comprises heating and coking the saccharides at high temperature to obtain caramel color, extracting with water or related solution, further refining, concentrating and drying. Another is to directly apply colored plant ingredients after drying and pulverizing.

There are also biotechnology methods, such as tissue culture. There is an artificial chemical synthesis method to prepare exactly the same natural pigments, such as β-carotene, which is safer than ordinary synthetic pigments.

The extended data includes natural pigments such as microbial pigments, plant pigments and mineral pigments extracted from animal and plant tissues and minerals, among which edible pigments are called natural edible pigments.

Widely used in medicine and food, shellac pigment, safflower yellow pigment, beet red, Chili red pigment, red rice, turmeric, β-carotene, sodium copper chlorophyllin, jam pigment and so on are all allowed. When choosing edible pigment, its color, taste and smell should be in harmony with natural objects or habits.

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