Chef Vu Nhat Thong, from the Eric Cooking Class center, states that the green color of vegetables comes from chlorophyll. When exposed to high temperatures during cooking, especially in an acidic environment, chlorophyll can easily transform into compounds with an unappealing grayish-green or olive-green hue.
Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) creates a mildly alkaline environment in the boiling water. This helps stabilize chlorophyll, limiting the discoloration process, allowing vegetables to retain their fresh green color after cooking.
This is why many chefs and home cooks use baking soda when preparing green vegetables such as green beans, mustard greens, or broccoli.
While it helps vegetables achieve a more appealing color, an alkaline environment causes many micronutrients, such as vitamin C and some B-group vitamins, to break down more quickly. Nutritional loss increases if too much is used or if cooking is prolonged.
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Adding baking soda to vegetables for daily cooking is not recommended due to nutrient loss. *Photo: AI* |
Furthermore, an alkaline environment accelerates the breakdown of pectin, a component that helps maintain plant cell structure. As a result, vegetables lose their natural crispness (become mushy) despite their appealing color.
Chef Vu Nhat Thong advises that using a very small amount (approximately 0,5 gram per liter of water) of baking soda for presentation purposes on special occasions is not a significant issue.
Home cooks should not make this a daily habit. For family meals, preserving the natural nutrients in food is more important than achieving a perfect green color.
To keep vegetables beautifully green while minimizing nutrient loss, one can apply several simple principles:
Use plenty of water and bring it to a rolling boil before adding vegetables, which helps them cook quickly and reduces their exposure time to heat.
Do not cover the pot during boiling so that natural organic acids can easily escape.
Remove vegetables as soon as they are tender-crisp, avoiding prolonged boiling.
After blanching or boiling, quickly immerse them in ice water to stop the cooking process, helping the vegetables retain their color and crispness.
For leafy greens, boil for only one to two minutes, just until tender-crisp.
Bao Nhien
