Water Color Mystery
aem
garden. Lifted them out with a strainer, leaving the water in the large
stainless steel pot because I expected to parboil some more later to
freeze. (The crop is abundant this year, even after eating a lot and
giving a lot away.) At this point, the water in the pot had a slight
greenish tint.
One thing led to another, and I never got around to dealing with the rest
of the beans. Left the pot, covered, on the stove all night. When I got
up this morning and went into the kitchen to clean up, I found that the
water's color had changed. No longer greenish, it was decidedly coppery,
or a dark pinkish gold. Hard to describe, but definitely not in the green
part of the spectrum.
It was just plain water and plain green beans in a plain stainless steel
pot. It has a copper bottom, but that's only on the outside, of course.
What happened here? Why did it change color? I'm stumped....
PENMART10
<aem...@worldnet.att.net.invalid> writes:
I believe green beans, especially the the actual beans (seeds) contain a
substantial amount of iron: iron + water + oxygen = hydrous iron oxide >
oxidized bean infusion.
I'm not a chemist so I could be partially wrong, but I'd lay odds that mostly
I'm right.
Sheldon
````````````
On a recent Night Court rerun, Judge Harry Stone had a wonderful line:
"I try to keep an open mind, but not so open that my brains fall out."
Jill McQuown
PENMART10 wrote in message <19990805153315...@ngol07.aol.com>...
>In article <37A9DDD2...@worldnet.att.net.invalid>, aem
><aem...@worldnet.att.net.invalid> writes:
>
>>
>>up this morning and went into the kitchen to clean up, I found that the
water's color had changed. No longer greenish, it was decidedly coppery,
>>
>
>substantial amount of iron: iron + water + oxygen = hydrous iron oxide
oxidized bean infusion.
>
>I'm not a chemist so I could be partially wrong, but I'd lay odds that
mostly I'm right.
>
>Sheldon
>````````````
My first thought was the iron content in the beans :-)
Jill
aem
Well, I'm gonna parboil/freeze the beans tonight, so I will leave the final
pot of water overnight again, this time on purpose, and see if the
phenomenon repeats itself. The theory sounds plausible, except that now I
think you're saying that cooking green beans turns the water rusty. Could
well be right, but is that the mental image I want when I look at my bright
shiny green beans?
Jill McQuown
>> PENMART10 wrote in message
>> >I believe green beans, especially the the actual beans (seeds) contain a
substantial amount of iron: iron + water + oxygen = hydrous iron oxide
>> My first thought was the iron content in the beans :-)
>>
>> Jill
>
>Well, I'm gonna parboil/freeze the beans tonight, so I will leave the final
pot of water overnight again, this time on purpose, and see if the
phenomenon repeats itself. The theory sounds plausible, except that now I
think you're saying that cooking green beans turns the water rusty. Could
well be right, but is that the mental image I want when I look at my bright
shiny green beans?
>
No, no no! I'm not saying the iron content in your beans turns water
"rusty"! Seems like a simple chemical reaction... I don't think it's
rusting so much as oxidizing the liquid contained in the pot by way of being
left without chilling. Perhaps next time you don't "get around to it" you
should refrigerate the cooking liquid and see how that turns out?
Again, I'm simply going on my first instinct about this. I am not a
chemist, nor do I play one on TV.
Jill
A.Ferszt
>
> Can anyone explain this one? Last night I boiled some green beans from the
> garden. Lifted them out with a strainer, leaving the water in the large
> stainless steel pot because I expected to parboil some more later to
> freeze. (The crop is abundant this year, even after eating a lot and
> giving a lot away.) At this point, the water in the pot had a slight
> greenish tint.
>
> One thing led to another, and I never got around to dealing with the rest
> up this morning and went into the kitchen to clean up, I found that the
> water's color had changed. No longer greenish, it was decidedly coppery,
> part of the spectrum.
>
> It was just plain water and plain green beans in a plain stainless steel
> pot. It has a copper bottom, but that's only on the outside, of course.
> What happened here? Why did it change color? I'm stumped....
Do you have hard or soft water?
Dimitri G Criona
aem wrote in message <37A9DDD2...@worldnet.att.net.invalid>...
I believe there are several factors;
First unless you are using distilled water your water is not plain -
Normally, depending on the part of the country there are a lot of minerals
suspended in the water. In addition most water is chlorinated and/or
fluoridated. You may have softened water which would increase the sodium
content. At any rate the water has some pH. value, either acidic or basic.
Second, I believe the greenish color was due to the leaching of chlorophyll
from the green beans along with other chemicals/nutrients .
I think (guess) the color change was simply due a change (deterioration) in
the chemical composition of the chlorophyll. The same way that lettuce or
other green vegetables turn a rusty color as they age.
Next time take (experiment) the green water and put it in a glass overnight
and see what happens. I don't think it has much to do with the stainless
steel pot.
Regards,
Dimitri
PENMART10
<DIMI...@prodigy.net> writes:
Chlorophyll will not dissolve in water, not unless the water contains a
quantity of ethyl alcohol. Chlorophyll tends to retard vegetative spoilage and
lack of it's production is a major contributor to why leaves turn color,
especially as chlorophyll production decelerates in the fall.
But chlorophyll, even when decomposed, can form a suspension with water, just
as occurs with tea in the process known as infusion.
Water from cooking vegetables will discolor for exactly the same reasons as
will stagnated pond water; dissolved minerals from the vegetation contained
therein oxidizes while organic plant matter decomposes and eventually ferments.
This process can be retarded somewhat with the addition of certain chemicals
such as salts and acids... ordinary table salt will surfice. Upon examination
one will discover the liquid from canned green beans will also be similarly
discolored with a brownish tinge, though not to the same extent with the
addition of salt and other chemical retardants; read the label. Green beans
left to wither on the vine will also turn brown. There is nothing amiss with
green beans that discolor cooking water, it's perfectly natural; heat from
cooking speeds up the process the same way one's digestive system operates,
with the result that what remains will under normal conditions also be a shade
of brown. Now you know why "shit happens!"
shirley bacidore
Shirley
sco...@webtv.net
Dimitri G Criona
PENMART10 wrote in message <19990806131854...@ngol08.aol.com>...
>In article <7oeron$3jfa$1...@newssvr03-int.news.prodigy.com>, "Dimitri G
Criona"
><DIMI...@prodigy.net> writes:
<snip>
<snip>
>Chlorophyll will not dissolve in water, not unless the water contains a
>quantity of ethyl alcohol. Chlorophyll tends to retard vegetative spoilage
and
>lack of it's production is a major contributor to why leaves turn color,
>especially as chlorophyll production decelerates in the fall.
Yep
>But chlorophyll, even when decomposed, can form a suspension with water,
just
>as occurs with tea in the process known as infusion.
Different from leached?
>Water from cooking vegetables will discolor for exactly the same reasons as
>will stagnated pond water; dissolved minerals from the vegetation contained
>therein oxidizes while organic plant matter decomposes and eventually
ferments.
>This process can be retarded somewhat with the addition of certain
chemicals
>such as salts and acids... ordinary table salt will surfice. Upon
examination
>one will discover the liquid from canned green beans will also be similarly
>discolored with a brownish tinge, though not to the same extent with the
>addition of salt and other chemical retardants; read the label. Green
beans
>left to wither on the vine will also turn brown. There is nothing amiss
with
>green beans that discolor cooking water, it's perfectly natural; heat from
>cooking speeds up the process the same way one's digestive system operates,
>with the result that what remains will under normal conditions also be a
shade
>of brown. Now you know why "shit happens!"
So what you are saying, if I read it correctly, is the leftover water in
the pot "turned to shit" -
Like so many other things in life ;-)
Correct?
Regards,
Dimitri
Natalia Wilson
metal of the pot, even if it is stainless steel.
(mmm.memories of the science fair)
Natalia
In article <37AA2FB3...@worldnet.att.net.invalid>,
aem <aem...@worldnet.att.net.invalid> wrote:
>Jill McQuown wrote:
>
>> PENMART10 wrote in message
>> <19990805153315...@ngol07.aol.com>...
>> >In article <37A9DDD2...@worldnet.att.net.invalid>, aem
>> ><aem...@worldnet.att.net.invalid> writes:
>> >
>> >>
>> >>Can anyone explain this one? <SNIP> When I got
>> >>up this morning and went into the kitchen to clean up, I found that the
>>
>> water's color had changed. No longer greenish, it was decidedly coppery,
>>
>> >>
>> >
>> >I believe green beans, especially the the actual beans (seeds) contain a
>>
>> >substantial amount of iron: iron + water + oxygen = hydrous iron oxide
>> oxidized bean infusion.
>> >
>> >I'm not a chemist so I could be partially wrong, but I'd lay odds that
>> mostly I'm right.
>>
>> >
>> >Sheldon
>> >````````````
>> My first thought was the iron content in the beans :-)
>>
>> Jill
>
>Well, I'm gonna parboil/freeze the beans tonight, so I will leave the final
>pot of water overnight again, this time on purpose, and see if the
>phenomenon repeats itself. The theory sounds plausible, except that now I
>think you're saying that cooking green beans turns the water rusty. Could
>well be right, but is that the mental image I want when I look at my bright
>shiny green beans?
>
--
????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
And did they get you to trade your heros for ghosts? Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change? And did you exchange a
walk on part in the war for a lead-role in a cage?
Jerry De Angelis
Opps! I did not see your response when I posted mine. Otherwise I
would not have posted mine. Apologies to all for the redundant post!
Jerry @ The Artisan
http://www.theartisan.net
The Italian Food and Bread Site
Dimitri G Criona wrote:
>
> aem wrote in message <37A9DDD2...@worldnet.att.net.invalid>...
> >Can anyone explain this one? Last night I boiled some green beans from the
> >garden. Lifted them out with a strainer, leaving the water in the large
> >stainless steel pot because I expected to parboil some more later to
> >freeze. (The crop is abundant this year, even after eating a lot and
> >giving a lot away.) At this point, the water in the pot had a slight
> >greenish tint.
> >
> >One thing led to another, and I never got around to dealing with the rest
> >of the beans. Left the pot, covered, on the stove all night. When I got
> >up this morning and went into the kitchen to clean up, I found that the
> >water's color had changed. No longer greenish, it was decidedly coppery,
Jerry De Angelis
Another possibility is that the green color in the water originally
was chlorophyll leached from the beans. The subsequent reaction may
have been oxidation of the chlorophyll, either by iron in the beans or
contact with oxygen overnight.
Regards
Jerry @ the Artisan
http://www.theartisan.net
The Italian Food and Bread Page
aem
> Aem
>
> Another possibility is that the green color in the water originally
> was chlorophyll leached from the beans. The subsequent reaction may
> have been oxidation of the chlorophyll, either by iron in the beans or
> contact with oxygen overnight.
>
> Regards
>
> Jerry @ the Artisan
Well, the mystery continues. I did the parboiling/freezing with a lot of
green beans, this time paying attention to the color of the water. Again
the pot is stainless, the water is filtered (Brita) tap water, the beans
are from the back yard. Nothing else involved. This time, I saw slightly
greenish water after the first batch, which I lifted out of the water with
a strainer. At the end of parboiling the second batch, the water was
already the copper color. At the end of the third batch, it was deeper in
color. I poured it out, started a new pot with fresh [filtered] water.
At the end of the next batch of beans, it was slightly greenish. That was
the end of the beans. I have poured some of the water into a glass jar and
will let it sit overnight to see if it changes color. But I don't expect
it to. I think my initial observation was probably incomplete, and the
water was already on the copper tint path and I didn't notice.
Unless something comes along and kills the bean vines, there will more
experiments and observations before the summer is out......
maryf
<snip>
> Now you know why "shit happens!"
And that's why we have toilet paper :-).
It cleans us up and keeps us on an even keel with ourselves and everyone
else :-).
Mary f. <donning the abestos suit and heading for the hills, just
in case!>
_ _
( \ / )
|\ ) ) _,,,/ (,,_
/, . '`~ ~-. ;-;;,_
|,4) -,_. , ( `'-'
'-~~' (_/~~' `-'\_)
It's a widdle,widdle, widdle pud (She's not big on sharing, is she?)
http://home.earthlink.net/~maryf
jane a
>substantial amount of iron: iron + water + oxygen = hydrous iron oxide >
>oxidized bean infusion.
>
>I'm not a chemist so I could be partially wrong, but I'd lay odds that
mostly
>I'm right.
>
>
>Sheldon
>````````````
>"I try to keep an open mind, but not so open that my brains fall out."
>
I have no doubt Sheldon that you would lay anything....
j ;-)
PENMART10
<aem...@worldnet.att.net.invalid> writes:
>Well, the mystery continues. I did the parboiling/freezing with a lot of
>green beans, this time paying attention to the color of the water. Again
>the pot is stainless, the water is filtered (Brita) tap water, the beans
>are from the back yard. Nothing else involved. This time, I saw slightly
>greenish water after the first batch, which I lifted out of the water with
>a strainer. At the end of parboiling the second batch, the water was
>already the copper color. At the end of the third batch, it was deeper in
>color. I poured it out, started a new pot with fresh [filtered] water.
>At the end of the next batch of beans, it was slightly greenish. That was
>the end of the beans. I have poured some of the water into a glass jar and
>will let it sit overnight to see if it changes color. But I don't expect
>it to. I think my initial observation was probably incomplete, and the
>water was already on the copper tint path and I didn't notice.
>
>Unless something comes along and kills the bean vines, there will more
>experiments and observations before the summer is out......
>
Dilly Beans (Pickle)
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
2 pounds green beans -- trimmed
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 cloves garlic
4 heads dill
2 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups vinegar
1/4 cup salt
Pack beans lengthwise into 4 hot pint jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. To each
jar add: 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, 1 head dill and 1 clove garlic.
Combine remaining ingredients and boil. Pour boiling hot over beans leaving
1/4 inch head space. Adjust caps and process 10 minutes in water-bath canner.
Note: Let beans stand at least 2 weeks to allow flavor to develop.
PENMART10
>PENMART10 wrote:
><snip>
>
> > Now you know why "shit happens!"
>
>And that's why we have toilet paper :-).
>
>It cleans us up and keeps us on an even keel with ourselves and everyone
>else :-).
>
>Mary f.
The Queen Mary would be broad in the beam,
wide in the stern and most definitely have a
two-roll keel, extremely stable... but ::hehe::
once ya get her to capsize... woooo, baby! <G>
Hey, us sailors know all about these nautigal things! ;)
maryf
>
> In article <37ABA2...@earthlink.net>, maryf <ma...@earthlink.net> writes:
>
> >PENMART10 wrote:
> ><snip>
> >
> > > Now you know why "shit happens!"
> >
> >And that's why we have toilet paper :-).
> >
> >It cleans us up and keeps us on an even keel with ourselves and everyone
> >else :-).
> >
> >Mary f.
>
> The Queen Mary would be broad in the beam,
> wide in the stern and most definitely have a
> two-roll keel, extremely stable... but ::hehe::
> once ya get her to capsize... woooo, baby! <G>
>
> Hey, us sailors know all about these nautigal things! ;)
>
You are so bad ;-). You are evil and will have to be shot.
--
Mary f. <No Kitty! it's MY POT PIE!>