84
votes
Why is my red cabbage suddenly turning blue when cooking, while it never did so before?
The red in red cabbage is Anthocyanin, which is a natural pigment which turns blue in the presence of a base. Apples are slightly acidic, adding apples kept the cabbage's ph towards the acid side, ...
- 67.1k
41
votes
How do I make my blended soup a more appealing colour?
Of course “appealing” is quite opinion-based, so let’s look at the problem in a slightly more neutral “how can I avoid the colors mixing when I blend the soup”.
In short, you can’t.
If you have a ...
- 53.9k
37
votes
Accepted
What would cause the peel of a lime to turn yellow?
Ethylene, most likely.
You've said that that lime was at the bottom of the bowl, mostly covered with other fruit. I'll bet it was very close to some kiwis.
Fruit -- particularly fruit like kiwi which ...
- 20.7k
33
votes
Why is black pepper both grey and black?
Here is a photo of a peppercorn. You can see why a ground one might contain both black and grey bits.
- 64.6k
30
votes
Accepted
How do I avoid my food becoming brownish/dark while cooking?
The "browning" or "coloring" of food during cooking and baking1 is a reaction of temperature and/or time. As a rule of thumb, the hotter your pan or oven, the faster the food will brown.
There are ...
- 53.9k
28
votes
How do I make my blended soup a more appealing colour?
The Turquoise Room (at the La Posada Hotel in Winslow, Arizona) has a "signature soup", which is actually two soups ladled into a single bowl: a bright yellow corn soup, and a darker brown ...
- 788
28
votes
Flatbread dough turned red
As Joe mentioned, there was something acting as a litmus paper!
Turmeric placed in an alkaline solution will turn bright red!
quoted from: https://foodcrumbles.com/how-turmeric-gets-its-color/
Most ...
- 451
27
votes
Why is my red cabbage suddenly turning blue when cooking, while it never did so before?
It's turning blue because it's no longer acidic - the apples in your parents' version was providing some acidity which keeps it red.
You can sub in something else to provide the acidity if the apple ...
- 371
26
votes
Accepted
Does squid ink pasta bleed?
No, as far as I know pasta made with squid ink, often called nero di seppia, should be stable, and the ink doesn't normally bleed into the water.
From my experience after boiling black pasta, even ...
- 1,973
22
votes
Accepted
What does it mean when an egg splatters and the white is greenish-yellow?
From The Splendid Table:
Older eggs (which are still safe to eat) tend to be more alkaline, which encourages a green reaction similar to that green ring you can get around a hard-cooked egg yolk. The ...
- 3,451
19
votes
Why is my red cabbage suddenly turning blue when cooking, while it never did so before?
Red cabbage is an indicator that changes color depending pH. If in acidic environment, the cabbage changes color to red, in an alkaline environment it turns blue.
Depending on the acidity/alkalinity ...
- 1,079
15
votes
Accepted
Why did the apple skins turn blue/purple-ish in my apple pancakes the next day?
I feel fairly confident that what you see is anthocyanins (naturally present in apple skin) reacting with some leavening in your pancakes.
Here's a link that explains in more details, but I'll ...
- 4,944
14
votes
Accepted
How to make my scrambled eggs more yellow?
Ah, we consumers and our expectations:
Egg yolks are yellow.
But in reality, yolks come in a range from pale yellow to deep orange. The colour is determined by the food (wheat makes lighter yolks ...
- 53.9k
13
votes
Color of fried beef steak: sometimes dark, sometimes light-colored. Why?
It's quite likely that the steaks that ended up darker were dry when you started cooking them.
If you don't dry off the surface of your steak, the heat is used to evaporate the moisture on the ...
- 75.5k
12
votes
Accepted
Can a blood orange be half bloody?
While many pictures show them deep red (perhaps for the dramatic effect?), even orange flesh wih only some red tinge is normal.
Even the wikipedia link you gave in the question states:
The Moro ...
- 53.9k
12
votes
Adding chili powder to a dish makes it dark black
I make my own chili powder by drying (already dried) chilies in the oven till crispy. I then add them to a food processor and grind them to a rough powder.
The result is a very dark chili powder that ...
- 824
11
votes
How to prevent brillant pink raw bread dough from cooking up to yellow?
It appears that the pH of your bread changed during baking. Beets are red because of their anthocyanins. According to Wikipedia:
Anthocyanins can be used as pH indicators because their color changes ...
- 306
10
votes
How does the meat in Weisswurst get so white?
The real question should be "what makes sausages pink" - but more later.
All meat turns greyish-white or brown when cooked. This is due to the myoglobin, which makes raw meat look pink or red, being ...
- 53.9k
8
votes
Can a blood orange be half bloody?
I just happen to cut into this literally Half Bloody Blood orange! Tasted great and so pretty!
- 81
7
votes
Red "white" onion?
As Wikipedia states (with good sources):
A Vidalia onion (/vɪˈdeɪliə/ or /vaɪˈdeɪliə/) is a sweet onion of certain varieties, grown in a production area defined by law of the U.S. state of Georgia ...
- 1,325
7
votes
Stop Hummus from darkening
Sure, a few tips below. Note that you're not going to be able to keep it from drying/darkening entirely; the below is intended to keep it as appetizing as possible despite this.
Use a higher % of ...
- 46.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Is chicken with yellowish parts spoiled?
Yellowing (particularly around the hocks) can be an indicator of the breed, and is more prevalent on younger chickens. For females it can fade as they reach laying age, although diet (high in corn) ...
- 631
6
votes
Accepted
How to stop mushrooms from discoloring everything?
Based on comments, the likely culprit is moisture cooking out of the mushrooms and into your other ingredients. Mushrooms contain a surprising amount of liquid, and when cooking them you'll see that ...
- 14.7k
6
votes
Accepted
Beef discoloration on parts not in contact with air
When meat is first cut, it is purplish in color. If it is exposed to enough oxygen, it can turn a bright red. Eventually it will turn brown.
If the meat is cut and exposed to air, but then deprived ...
- 31.5k
6
votes
Accepted
Will fresh bell peppers give stew a red colour?
Normally no. Paprika and the like are dried and powdered. You will likely get some red coloration if you puree your fresh red peppers before adding to your stew. Absent that step, the red remains ...
- 11.6k
6
votes
Accepted
Why would using a tall baking pan cause the top of a cake to be darker?
Very theoretically: if the pan is filled to the brim, the upper surface of the cake will be closer to the heating element, so the cake will be somewhat darker.
I am actually quite skeptical that this ...
- 125k
5
votes
When buying blue potatoes how can you tell what color the flesh will be?
It's almost impossible to tell without studying all the different types of blue/purple potatoes and memorizing slight differences in size and hue. One trick is that the potatoes with the deepest, ...
- 455
5
votes
Pitaya Red Velvet Cake became brown
Note that carrot cake isn't the bright orange of raw or even boiled carrots either. This is especially true of the crust and from your description of partway through cooking I suspect that's the ...
- 38.6k
5
votes
Accepted
Why do brinjal change their color when they being cut? How to keep them not to change color?
Aubergine change colour because they are oxidizing, potatoes are in the plant family(night shades) and turn brown too. The best way to prevent browing is to immerse in water as soon as they are cut....
- 96
5
votes
Does squid ink pasta bleed?
I have cooked squid ink pasta, and did not find much bleeding. On the other hand, i’ve had SIP in a restaurant, and everything was stained black. So perhaps there’s some other variable at play.
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