Using colourings in your cooking

The introduction

Hello everyone, I hope, that you are all doing just fine!

In this article I want to tell you about these different colourings and how to use them and where to use them and where to buy them and stuff like that, you know, because I have just found out recently, that they can be bought freely at those bakery shops (well, not that they are everywhere, but still…) and the using of them is pretty simple and easy , so that anyone can use them and they are pretty amusing and great.

Well, I remember those colourings from my childhood, when my aunt used to prepare cakes and she would bake those colourful cakes and we just loved those colours and everything. she had those colourings in a liquid state and she stored each of them in those small bottles and they were really cute and I thought , that they wouldn’t be enough even for one cake, however, they were pretty enough, I must say, and more than enough, you know, so that she only needed a drop or two for the cream fillings to be coloured and if you added some more, they would get more vivid, of course. So, it was a great process for us to watch her bake cakes, I mean, the decoration process was the most interesting, because that was when the magic happened and she coloured the cream fillings and used all those colourings and she even let us choose, which colour the cake would be and that was a great honor for us, you know, and then, when the cream filling was left, we used to put some of them on our hands and there were shapes for flowers and leaves and stuff like that and we would then eat them and it was much fun, if you want to know the truth. I don’t know about her, but we really enjoyed that process. However, you know, after that all those dishes were dirty and everything needed to be washed and back in those days people didn’t really have washing machines,I mean, normal people couldn’t really afford buying those washing machines and they didn’t even had water sometimes and they had to wash all those dishes themselves and that would have been pretty exhausting, I can assume.

Anyways, back then I thought, that those liquid colourings were something, that my aunt would never run out of and they were like for the lifetime usage and I didn’t even think, that there would exist those powders, which you could dissolve in the water and they would become just like that and I always thought, that it was some magic and she had them from some special place, I mean, I never thought that anyone else could have something like that, because anywhere we had some cakes eaten, I didn’t notice any colourings in them, the cream fillings were just white or dark with the cocoa powder and that was it and it was not that common to have some coloured cakes, I guess, because those people didn’t have those colourings, that my aunt had and that made her special, of course. And, well, the cakes were usually with white biscuits and white cream fillings mostly and they didn’t even made them chocolatey, I mean, they didn’t use cocoa powder, though I really loved cakes and cream fillings with cocoa powder and that chocolate taste, however, some people knew, how to prepare some very delicious cream fillings and it was a real pleasure eating those cakes, as I love good cream fillings and I love them more than those biscuits in cream fillings, if you want to know the truth, so that I don’t really mind about the biscuits as long as the cream fillings taste delicious.

Why you should use some colourings in your cakes

You know, when I saw those cakes on the Internet and they were all colourful and stuff like that, I couldn’t understand how it could be possible to do that, because they had those layers with different colours and they looked pretty cool and then I wanted to have some cakes like that and I would buy some of them if I had seen one here, however, I had not seen anything like that in those bakeries and supermarkets or stuff like that and I was not able to eat cakes like that, you know. And I didn’t really see the recipes for them, because there were some pictures and they were not really the recipes pages, I guess. So that, it was a brilliant thing, when I thought about those colourings, and, well, to tell you the truth, I had not used any of those colourings in my previous cakes or whatever and I didn’t really know how to use them either, so that I just asked about using them that consultant lady and she told me, that I could dissolve them in the water and they would get colour and then I could add it to the cream filling, however, I wasn’t going to use it in the cream filling at that time and, well, I figured, that the process would be the same with the dough and everything came out just fine, as you know. And those colourings don’t really change the taste of the cream filling or the dough or anything, they just give the colour to them, so that you can use them freely in your baking and they will be great and the cakes will look just amazing and beautiful and colorful, you know. And it’s not just that, I mean, who doesn’t love colours?! And children especially love colourful cakes and things, in general, so that if you add some colourings to your cakes, they will eat them with curiousity and excitement and they will love them more than they would if they were just usual cakes with that usual colour, you know.

Where you can buy those colourings in Tbilisi

Well, you can buy the colourings in Tbilisi in one place, that I know about and that is Pasazhi shopping center and there’s this shop, where they have many kinds of things for baking and birthday parties and some cooking things and there I found these colourings stuff and I bought them there and you can buy them there, too. That place is pretty reasonable and getting there is pretty easy, too, if you go there by metro, because it’s just nearby the metro station and  I always go there by metro. There are lots of other public transports going there and you can even get there by car, however, no one really likes going there by their cars, because there’s always crowded there and you can’t really park your car somewhere nearby and the traffic there is just a mess, so that’s really easy to get there on foot and especially by metro, because buses and microbuses are like the usual cars, too, of course, and they can be very slow when it comes to getting to Station Square where this Pasazhi shopping center is.

There are many public transport going to the Station square. There’s this microbus No.141 , which goes there from nearby my apartment and it costs 80 Tetris and if there’s a bad weather or something like that and I really need to get to Pasazhi shopping center or even nearby there or somewhere else, I can just go downstairs and get into that microbus and it will take me there. There are also many other transport, such as bus No.9 or 37, which I definitely know, that are going there to the Station Square and this bus No.37 even works during the whole night, because then it goes to the airport and it’s really important thing for passengers flying and getting home and everything, because that way they can go to the airport and come back from there very cheaply, because it’s really expensive to get a taxi to the airport and, especially, from the airport, because when the taxi drivers know, that you just arrived at the airport and you need a taxi, they tell you some expensive prices and  then you don’t have much of a choice, but to choose any of them and pay them that amount of money. So that, it was a significant move, when they let that bus No.37  work throughout the night and take people from the city to the airport and back. There’s also bus No.47 going to the Station squareand then getting to Saburtalo and then going to Nutsubidze Plateau, however, all those buses are not  a good  idea, especially if you are going back home or whatever from the Station Square, because once  I was waiting for the bus there for almost an hour and then I realized, that I should go and take metro. Of course, there are those tables, where there are written the time of buses coming and though there was written, that the bus would come in a couple of minutes, it never came and then it was too late when it came and there were already so many people gathered waiting for that bus, that I couldn’t really get on it, so that I had to get into the metro, if you want to know the truth.

So when you go by metro to Pasazhi shopping center, you should go up on Station Square station and then turn 180 degrees and go down and you will see this green and orange building there and you should cross the road and get into it and then walk straight until you reach the very end and that is the place, where those people sell Churchkhelas and biscuits and spices and souvenirs and then you should go to the right and after two shops or something like that, you will see those baking stuff and things like that and the shop number is 108 and you should go in there and look around and , trust me, you won’t come out without anything bought there. You can even pay by your credit card there and that’s why I like shopping in that shop , too, because there are not many places, where you can buy those baking stuff and pay by your card, if you want to know the truth, and I just don’t like having all that cash with me and exchanging it and stuff like that. That’s why I don’t like going to bazaars or even buying some biscuits in that Pasazhi shopping center because they don’t have that thing to pay with your card and that’s not that comfortable, you know, however, buying things in bazaars can be cheaper, than buying them in the supermarkets and, besides, fruit and vegetables are tastier in bazaars, than in the supermarkets, if you want to know the truth.

Anyways, the shopping for baking stuff in that Pasazhi shopping center is a great idea, because I don’t know any other shop, where you can see so many cooking things together in that comfortable space, so that I always go to that shop, when I need some baking stuff and I’m not talking about flour or vanilla or baking soda, I am talking about some serious stuff, I mean, some creams and spices and baking forms and chocolate chips and other things.

Well, when I first thought about colourings and using them and I visited this shop and looked around, I saw those colourings in the packages and they were just crystalized powders or something like that and I didn’t really know how I could use them. However, then I noticed those other small bottles and they had these signs on them and they said which coolours they were as the bottles were dark brown themselves, and there were all those different colours and there were also some rum essence and chocolate and almond essence and so on and so forth and they even had other large bottles with those colourings and then I realized, that there were so many options of having those colourings and I could choose any of them, depending on which one I needed, I mean, there are people, who are chefs and they bake lots of things a day and, of course, they need much colourings and stuff and I just needed a small amount, so that I wouldn’t take those large bottles of colourings, of course. And I took those powdered packages and they each cost 50 Tetris, so that they were not really expensive as I thought so, because there was plenty of powder inside comparing to what I thought and I could even make it liquid and store them in the bottles and use them whenever I needed, you know. Or I could just have them like that _ in that crystalized state or powder or whatever and use them whenever I needed them. Well, to be honest, I’m having them in that powdered state, because I don’t have enough bottles for them to be stored as liquid ones, I mean, I have this one empty bottle and two other ones, which are full of essences and I’m not planning on using them for some time, I guess, so that I have just one bottle and maybe I will use it for one colouring and I will just keep those two others like that in some jars and then, when I get those two other bottles emptied , I will store the other colourings in them , too. It’s pretty amazing how many things you need to have at home if you want to cook and bake some things even from time to time, I mean, there are so many details in baking and cooking, for example, you should always have some baking soda and sugar and salt and vanilla and spices and other things for your dishes to be delicious, otherwise it’s not worth trying, I mean, what is the purpose of you preparing something if it is not delicious?! You will waste your energy and money and ingredients and time on something, that is not even worth eating, I guess.

Using the colourings

Well, I have already mentioned above, however, I will still tell you how to use those colourings and what to do with them. First of all, start by cream fillings, I mean, when you prepare some cream filling or whipping cream or whatever, you can just sprinkle that colouring powder to your cream and make it colourful. You know, you can even not bother about preparing some cream filling and you can even make your sour cream or milk or kefir get colourful and it will be pretty interesting, if you ask me and I am going to try that now.

You can make that powder liquidy by adding some water and that way you can store them into bottles and use some drops of them whenever you like.

And you can use those colourings in your dough, too, and you can make it look incredible by adding those colourings. You can bake some colourful cakes and they will look very beautiful and yummy. And you can even colour some pizza or Khachapuri dough and make them look like other things, I mean, imagine red pizza crust or a green one or yellow or something like that! Well, I once had this blue colour in my cream filling for small tarts and it was a perfect blue colour and when my friend came and ate it, he was all in blue, I mean, his lips and tongue and teeth were blue, of course, that was because anything colourful would be like that, but it was hilarious and I can’t forget that. And it was really funny and I couldn’t resist but laugh and I couldn’t really stop it, you know. And that’s another usage of those colourings if you want to have some fun and enjoy your makings.

So, that was what I wanted to tell you about those colourings and buying them and stuff like that. And if you want to enjoy your cooking, you can prepare those colourful things with these colourings and have some fun, of course. I would never thought about those colourings if it was not for my aunt and if she didn’t prepare some colourful cakes with those colours using in her cream fillings and having them stored in those small bottles and stuff like that. I guess, she is the reason why I know so many things about cooking, because I used to watch her prepare some stuff and then, she would help me with my cooking skills if I was interested in something and, well, to be honest, people just learn cooking just by watching some things and when you watch those things done routinely, you just don’t pay much attention to them, however, your mind still notices them and remembers and then, when you need something about that, it just pops up into your mind and you just know how to do something, which you haven’t really learned on purpose. That’s like something very simple, but hard at the same time and you never know, when you learned something like that, because you just learned it on every day basis looking at things and not realizing, that you were remembering them.

Well, I hope, that I told you something interesting and made you think about using some colourings in your baking and things like that.

Enjoy your cooking!

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