The goal of the research was to synthesize polymeric nanostructures with entrapped natural hydrophobic carotenes for food applications as natural colorants. The use of natural colorants in the food industry has been restricted by their poor solubility in water, poor stability, and non-uniform color distribution in a water medium. The main approach currently used to improve water solubility of hydrophobic natural components is emulsification with surfactants like polysorbitol 80; phase separation is the main limitation of this technology. The hypothesis was that nanostructures of natural polymers could be used to entrap the naturally hydrophobic carotenes to form a water suspension of improved stability. Emulsion evaporation with crosslinking was selected as the method of choice to form sodium alginate nanoparticles with β-carotene entrapped in the polymeric matrix, in the presence of lecithin as a surfactant. The ionic interactions between the natural polymer, surfactant, and the crosslinking agent were essential for the nanostructure synthesis and stabilization. The synthesized nanostructures were characterized by TEM, SEM, DLS, and FTIR, among other techniques. Rheological and stability studies as a function of pH and ionic strength were conducted as well. Results showed that the nanostructures formed were able to uniformly deliver the hydrophobic beta-carotene to water, to form a red color which was stable over a period of weeks. Future studies include synthesis and characterization of new nanostructures formed with other cross-linking agents and natural polymers for improved functionality and stabilization.