Purple is 2018’s Color of the Year - Celebrate With Food!

Dec 08, 2017

As the calendar page gets ready to flip to 2018, there will be many retrospectives of the year past, as well as many forecasts and predictions for the year ahead. For the past 17 years, Pantone has been naming an official "color of the year." This company is known as the worldwide expert in color matching for industries ranging from graphic design and printing to clothing and paint colors.

They just announced that the 2018 Color of the Year is Ultra Violet (also known as Pantone 18-3838.T)

According to Pantone's website, they chose this color because it suggests the "mysteries of the cosmos, the intrigue of what lies ahead, and the discoveries beyond where we are now."  When you think about purple in a historical or cultural sense, you might think of royal people cloaked in purple, mystical wizards, musical icons like Prince or Jimi Hendrix, or even movies (The Color Purple).

So, as we look ahead to 2018, we can celebrate this color of the year with healthy foods! Colorful foods are packed with important antioxidants and nutrients.  In particular, purple foods contain anthocyanins. These health-promoting chemicals can help protect cells and heal your body. Research even suggests they play a role in promoting eye and heart health, decreasing cancer cell proliferation and more.

Here are a few recipes from our Recipe Center using purple foods: 

• All American Popsicles
• Crockpot Chicken Tacos with Pickled Vegetables
• Eggplant Stir Fry
• Patriotic Potato Salad

Happy (Ultra Violet) New Year!