Herbs browning when blending with booze a la Liquid Intelligence

[Hassouni]

I'm following the blender-muddling technique from Liquid Intelligence to the letter to blend mint into vodka. DA says that mint doesn't last as long as basil does (as used in his Thai Basil Daiquiri), so I dosed it with some powdered vitamin C, aka ascorbic acid to prevent oxidation. The stuff still goes from vivid bright green to murky and brownish within a few hours. I need to make a big batch to last for an 8 hour or so bar shift, and I'm running out of ideas.

 

I've blended with mint, vodka, and ascorbic acid - doesn't stay green much longer than no acid at all. Do I need to add more? I'm doing about a teaspoon per 12 oz of vodka, which seems like a lot.

 

I've done the iSi infusion with and without the acid - the taste isn't the same and it BARELY takes on any color (the finished drink needs to be green)

 

I'm now testing a blanched, and shocked batch of mint, also blended with ascorbic acid. I don't have high hopes. As an experiment, I'm filtering out the sediment from half of that batch and I'll see if that makes any difference. I suspect blanching will destroy that fresh taste, though (obvious statement of the day?)

 

Anybody got any ideas? Are there any easily obtainable stronger antioxidants than ascorbic acid? 

 

I've neither a centrifuge nor any Pectinex SPL, before anyone suggests that.

 

[Lisa Shock]

Generally, acids turn leafy greens brown. It affects the chlorophyll. That's why we don't don't add acid to cooking green vegetables, we add it in sauce later.

 

Ascorbic acid and citric acid are usually used to prevent browning of fruit, which is visible oxidation when there isn't chlorophyll present.

 

I don't know of a textbook solution for your situation. However, in cooking of greens, sometimes a bit of baking soda is added to the water. It maintains the green color and sometimes it brings out a really vibrant bright green color depending on the type of chlorophyll. (there are 6 types, you generally only run into 2 of those) The down side is that the soda treated veg tends to fall apart pretty quickly, so the pretty bright broccoli will start to crumble on the buffet line over time. You might test some baking soda in the blanching water. (we used to use about a half teaspoon to a 7 qt pot) I simply have no idea which type(s) of chlorophyll mint has.

[Hassouni]

Hm, so ascorbic acid might actually be hurting me here?

[Lisa Shock]

Yep.

[_john]

Do you have a vacuum pack machine? A lot of air is introduced when you blend. If you vacuum degass it after you can get another hour or two I think.