Actually I got rid of excess red by trying recipes with 1000 red, I shiny etc. This sorted out this situation for me when the ingredients were destroyed.
Actually it's an element bug; you can't drop them, but you can't really get rid of them without buying a new pouch. We've added a verb to elements that will let you destroy them if you want, so that way you can make room. Should've been in late during yesterday's test but if you didn't get a chance to take advantage of it it should be there next time we run one.