What's Red Velvet Made Of
Here’s the wildest part: red velvet wasn’t originally this loud. It used to be a happy accident. See, raw cocoa powder has a chemical called anthocyanin. That’s the same stuff in red cabbage. When cocoa meets acidic buttermilk and vinegar, it naturally turns a rusty red. Think a muddy brick, not a fire truck.
So why is modern red velvet so aggressively crimson? Economics. During World War II, bakers ran out of vanilla extract. Cue a massive marketing shift. A company called Adams Extract sold their red food dye by pushing a “red velvet” recipe. They tricked us into thinking the color was the point. It worked. We’ve been chasing that artificial glow ever since.
Today, you’re probably eating Red 40 or beet juice. But the soul of the color? That’s still a milky, acidic betrayal of boring cocoa. Fancy that.