Baking Soda in Cooked Vegetable Dishes?

[Naftal]

So... I found a wonderfully simple recipe for Chinese Broccoli. Everything was straight-forward ,easy really, until I saw baking soda on the ingredient list. Now, obviously, I can get that ingredient easily. But my question is: Why do I need it?

 

Comments?

[Lisa Shock]

It keeps the broccoli bright green longer. But, it also speeds up the vegetable falling apart. It's usually used when green vegetables will be held on a steam table, so they don't turn unappealingly khaki green in color.

[Naftal]

It keeps the broccoli bright green longer. But, it also speeds up the vegetable falling apart. It's usually used when green vegetables will be held on a steam table, so they don't turn unappealingly khaki green in color.

Lisa Shock- Thank you.

[Okanagancook]

I shall have to try some when I cook my garden sorrel which turns a terrible colour when heated.

[Lisa Shock]

I've never tried it with sorrel, but I have tried it with broccoli and a few other common supermarket green veggies. It neutralizes acid and prevents chlorophyll from changing into pheophytin. I have seen celery which was lightly blanched in water with a little baking soda added (1/2 tsp to 6 qts) turn a very vivid green color. It will get mushy if it remains in the water for more than about 6 minutes, but, I pretty much never cook a green vegetable that long. (maybe Brussels Sprouts, but, I generally roast those nowadays) Here's an explanation and a test of baking soda vs calcium hydroxide as recommended by Dave Arnold.

[Đinh Minh Vũ]

It keeps the broccoli bright green longer

[huiray]

I noticed this thread only just now.

 

As a follow-on to what Lisa Shock and others have said, I often use the water in which I had cooked my (commercial) wonton noodles to blanch the leafy green vegetables – kai-lan, yu choy sum, etc (after adding a bit of oil into the water and after sieving out/fishing out the noodles, of course) intended to accompany the noodles; for example for a bowl of soup w/ wontons and the noodles and the vegetables and whatever else. 

 

Wonton egg noodles (HK/Cantonese style, which is what I use) are made with kan sui (aqueous potassium carbonate/sodium bicarbonate) added to the dough and are distinctly alkaline.  The water used to cook the noodles also becomes slightly alkaline and does the job of keeping the vegetables green longer.

[Anna N]

I noticed this thread only just now.

 

As a follow-on to what Lisa Shock and others have said, I often use the water in which I had cooked my (commercial) wonton noodles to blanch the leafy green vegetables – kai-lan, yu choy sum, etc (after adding a bit of oil into the water and after sieving out/fishing out the noodles, of course) intended to accompany the noodles; for example for a bowl of soup w/ wontons and the noodles and the vegetables and whatever else. 

 

Wonton egg noodles (HK/Cantonese style, which is what I use) are made with kan sui (aqueous potassium carbonate/sodium bicarbonate) added to the dough and are distinctly alkaline.  The water used to cook the noodles also becomes slightly alkaline and does the job of keeping the vegetables green longer.

Looking at all your food photographs, huiray, it's hard to argue with your results. I think it's the vibrancy of your greens that so attracts me to your meals. I believe it was during the 50s or 60s that adding the bicarbonate of soda to greens became quite a fad until the nutritionists came down hard on it and claimed it destroyed nutrients. I haven't revisited it since then but I suspect I should.