real green eggs (and ham)

Green eggs and ham; You may be able to have them in a box and with a fox, but can you make them at home? Yes, you can!

With a clever bit of kitchen chemistry you can easily make your own green eggs, without any food colouring! The secret lies in a special pigment found in ordinary red cabbage, when cabbage juice is introduced to the alkaline egg whites the change in the pH causes the purple juice to turn a greenish-blue colour, it's completely harmless and produces a neat effect.

So for all you Dr.Seuss fans out there, get ready to have your favourite childhood story for breakfast.

Enough talk, let's make some green eggs (and ham), Sam I am!

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Step 1 Ingredients

ingredients: eggs red cabbage .

materials: microwave cheesecloth mixing bowl

Comments

[ChicaMia]

I understand the novelty, but why on earth is that egg so overcooked? It's burnt on the bottom!

[rykonen]

I like my eggs like that.

[mikeasaurus]

egg-cooking and photo-taking don't always go together.

[haydn_hammerton]

Isn't the yolk supposed to be the green bit, there's the next challenge!

[BrittLiv]

Sorry to be a smart ass, but the colour has to do with the pH value of the soil and not with the "acidity in red cabbage". That's why, depending on the region it can occur in different colours. Anthocyanins are actually a group of pigments.

Btw. here is a cool picture:

[mikeasaurus]

If I read what you wrote correctly, then we agree that the colour change in the eggs is due to the change the anthocyanins' pH found in red cabbage.

The acidity may vary due to soil, but that's not really what this Instructable is all about. I'd be happy to edit any part of the science written here if you can clearly elaborate on exactly where I strayed.

[BrittLiv]

Sorry, I should have been more clear, I was referring to this bit:

"The purple pigment in red cabbage is called anthocyanins and can change colour in response to changes in pH. The acidity in red cabbage causes the pigmentation to be purplish, but when introduced to an alkaline condition (like the whites of eggs) changes to a blueish-green."

I would write:

"Naturally red cabbage has a colour somewhere between red and purple, depending on the pH-value of the soil it is growing in. This colour change occurs due to the pigment flavin, which belongs to a group of water soluble plant pigments called anthocyanins (For those of you, that don't know what the pH value refers to, it is the measure of the acidity (pH < 7) or basicity (pH > 7) of an aqueous solution).
In this Instructable, we are making use of the fact, that flavin is a natural pH indicator and that egg white has a pH value of about 8. These slightly alkaline condition result in a colour change to a blueish-green."

Hope I could help

[mikeasaurus]

It's science!_(cited)

[monsterlego]

I DO NOT LIKE THEM SAM I AM, I DO NOT LIKE GREEN EGGS AND HAM!!!!

Heh, good job. :)

[nintendolou]

what about the ham? :O

[acarroll white]

Did you use food coloring for the ham?

[dmiles2]

I am sooooooo going to eat these in a box, with a fox!

[lmnopeas]

Omg, how fun! Can't wait to try this!

[depotdevoid]

Awesome, I didn't realize you could do that with cabbage. This reminds me of being a kid, my mom would make us green eggs and ham for breakfast every now and then . . . of course, she was just using food coloring.

[sunshiine]

Love, love, love, it! Nice touch! Thanks for sharing. Enjoy the weekend!
Sunshiine

[Penolopy Bulnick]

Cool, but a little strange, but so was Green Eggs and Ham!