h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A favorite recipe of mine, boil and peel a dozen eggs.

Take half and store overnight in a solution of vinegar the night before Easter.

Chop a large red cabbage medium fine.

Steam till tender in a minimum of water.

Bed plain eggs and pickled eggs in steamed red cabbage, taking care that no two eggs of opposite types are directly in contact with one another.

Allow to chill half an hour.

The plain eggs and the red cabbage will turn a robin's egg blue where they're in mutual contact.

The pickled eggs will turn a complementary pink where they're in contact with the red cabbage.

(If the two kinds of eggs nest against one another, the region of contact will be purple.)

Serve as luncheon or dinner salad, dressings on the side.

Dressings added may and sometimes will induce further color changes.




It strikes me all of a sudden that there ought to be a number of good Halloween recipes in this food color chemistry as well.

I don't, though, have any on tap and would have to experiment before I could be sure a recipe would work. .




The reaction between the red cabbage and the egg extends only to the egg white.

This being the case, one has a basis for robin's egg blue slaw mixing equal amounts of grated and steamed red cabbage and grated boiled egg white.*

So far, I know this will work.

I warrant nothing beyond this with respect to additions of other ingredients flavorings or sauces to the recipe.




It strikes me that there are also some quiche possibilities here, perhaps with a kiwi fruit sauce topping, with cheeses and and pizza toppings sprinkled sparingly on top of that.

The proof is in the pudding: I have yet to make the experiment, but I'll get around to it.




'Blue potatoes' (they appear to be the same color as 'red cabbage' to me, purple) can be employed similarly.

The one's I grow in the garden produce 2 to 3 inch of 1/2 diameter pink flowers.

I've yet to succeed in getting them to fruit.




The pigment giving red cabbage and blue potatoes their color in both cases is anthoxanthin, a naturally occurring food colorant which operates as an acid/base indicator and allows of development of a complete spectrum of chromatic hues in the right conditions.

After the chlorophylls, it is the single most common vegetable pigment




*With respect to the egg yolks, if nothing else, one can put them aside with the pumpkin guts left over from the evisceration of the Jack o' Lantern for the cat(s).

At any rate my cats often have a thing about pumpkin guts.

Also, all the cholesterol in the egg is in the yolk.

Egg whites are cholesterol free.