Step one

Mix everything and boil for 30 minutes. 

Step two

Stir once in a while and keep the lid on to avoid unnecessary evaporation of water.

Step three

 After 30 minutes you will get approximately 1 litre of dye. You can leave it boiling for longer if you would like a more intense colour.

Step four

Pour the dye into a clean jar through a sieve. This will help you to avoid having small pieces of cabbage in the dye. (A great tip for all natural dyes!)

Step five

Let it the dye cool and store it in the fridge. If you leave it outside the refrigerator, it will start to loose it's colour and turn a shade of light pink.
Ideally, you would use it within one week of making it. (Any longer and it may begin to have a slimy appearance and a stronger odour!)

Step six

To use any natural dye in a recipe, just replace the water ingredient for the dye.
If you don’t have enough dye for the recipe quantity or you want a lighter colour, you can also add water and mix it in.

Step seven

The juice of a red or purple cabbage can be used as a home-made pH indicator, turning red in an acid solution or even green-yellow in alkaline solutions.