Using food waste from dining halls at Virginia Tech as well as our own, we have been able to experiment with different methods of extracting pigment. We began at looking into traditional and at-home methods then dived into experimenting with the pigments’ chemical properties. Through our explorations we found that some pigments were more stable than others and retained their color through the processes while others were more unstable and sensitive to changes. Though many of our methods worked, we knew that for our project to be successful, we needed a simple method that was safe and understandable for our main audience: elementary-age kids. Take a look at our process in the video below.