Physical Information

Gardenia yellow pigment is a purely natural food colorant, extracted from fruits of Gardenia jasminoides Ellis.  The colorant ranges from bright yellow to brown powder with a slightly sour odor. Gardenia yellow’s main coloring agent is crocin.

The crocin yellow color sometimes turns to green when used in food made of flour or fermented food. This is because of geniposide, a type of iridoid glycoside that becomes blue via enzymatic reaction. The blue color and crocin yellow color combine to form a green flavor.

The RIKECOLOUR YG series uses a color method in separating Geniposide extracted under consistent production. Therefore, the food color will not change to green. Instead, it will have a fixed-quality yellow color. It is bright and golden yellow in color when in aqueous solution, and has a strong tinting ability. The main composition of the colorant is crocetin and crocin, which are soluble in water carotenoids.