Lab 7 Vegetables
Experiment 1: Degorging
Objectives:
To demonstrate the effect of sweating on cabbage.
Ingredients:
1/8 head of red cabbage
Up to 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions:
Wash, then peel the leaves from 1/4 of cabbage. Dry as best you can after washing
Cut to shred it ½ of this amount (1/8 head) of cabbage (reserve ½ for experiment 2) if not already shredded.
Put 2 paper towels out; 1 for control, 1 for degorged.
Place ½ shredded cabbage on the control paper towel.
Place the other ½ shredded on the degorged paper towel and prinkle on salt as shown in this video.
Mix the degorged cabbage and salt well and allow to degorge for 35-45 minutes.
Rinse before evaluating. You can cook what you don’t end up using for evaluation if you’d like to consume more of it.
Experiment 2: Blanching
Objectives:
To demonstrate the effect of blanching and shocking on cabbage.
Ingredients:
1/8 head of red cabbage (reserved from experiment 1)
Note: Reserve a sample of each vegetable and the water used to boil your vegetable in for use in experiment 3.
Instructions:
Put enough water into the saucepan to cover the cabbage leaves after they are added. Heat on high.
Fill a clean bowl with ice water (big enough so that half the blanched cabbage can be submerged).
Once water is boiling, carefully add the 1/8 head cabbage reserved from experiment 1 to the boiling water. Cook for 2-3 minutes (until color becomes bright and vibrant but slightly softened).
Use a slotted spoon or tongs to remove the cabbage from the boiling water. (KEEP COOKING LIQUID).
Place ½ of what is removed into the ice water to shock it. Chill for the same amount of time they were boiled.
Place the other at room temperature for evaluation.
Experiment 3: The Effect of pH on Vegetable Pigments
Objective:
To observe the effects of acid and alkali on plant pigments.
Ingredients:
Degorging liquid from first experiment
Cooking liquid from second experiment
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
Instructions:
Label three custard cups or other small bowls/vessels: cup 1 – base, cup 2 – acid, and cup 3 – control for each liquid (3 total).
Divide the reserved cooking liquid from experiment 2 equally into 3 custard cups.
Add nothing to the custard cup labeled control. Add ½ teaspoon baking soda to the custard cup labeled base. Add ½ teaspoon vinegar to the custard cup labeled acid.
Evaluate and record color changes using the table provided.
