Activated charcoal

Charbon végétal activé

What it is

The powder that blackens a bun is the same one an emergency room gives to adsorb a swallowed poison - it works by surface area, a single gram carrying hundreds of square metres of it. New York City ordered it off menus in 2018 and the FDA has never approved it as a food colour, while the EU lists it as E153.

In the kitchen

Half to one percent of the flour weight gives true black; more turns the dough grey, gritty and dry, because the powder drinks water. It adsorbs medication indiscriminately, the contraceptive pill included, so it is not a garnish to be generous with.

Goes with

T65 bread flour Rye flour Butter Salt Sesame Squid ink Parmesan Olive oil

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