nettle soup notes

[eub]

Nettle blanching water is green, or is it reddish? In a shallow pot in cloudy window-light, it's green; when I tip the pot the deep end is pink. In a white bowl the bottom is red, until you lift it and light comes through the bottom and it's green. A glass cup full is brownish-red in incandescent light, straw-green in window light. We played with combinations of depth and light. I looked at transmission versus reflection, but saw no difference.

On the soup-making: it is key to keep all of the blanching water, because that is tasty. and the water you squeeze out of the blanched leaves, especially tasty and especially deep green. I started with some browned onions in the pot, boiled a little orzo for body but this was a no-op, and beyond that it was all nettles and nettle-water, and a little salt, not much. I think the nettles bring salt and nitrates.

These vinyl gloves are almost totally thick enough to prevent stings.

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So there's the red fluorescence you can see if you light chlorophyll sideways... but I don't see how to get what I saw from the blanching water. Help?

ETA: Here's the pink color:

Comments

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Googling "nettle tea pink" I get http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/woodland-activities/a-cup-of-nettle-tea/ stating that adding lemon to nettle tea makes it pink. That doesn't explain this business, but maybe is a place to start? There might be more than one thing in the water -- frex, intact cells or cell bits (illuminated by direct light through them to your eyeball) and feral chemicals (the actual liquid color) -- and each might be more prominent under different conditions? Or or or? Silica in stings?

[eub.livejournal.com]

That's interesting and seems like it ought to be relevant somehow. I am also interested to notice that they say it starts green, but their video picture looks reddish-brown to me.

Racemic acid?

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Also, how did you learn about racemic acid?

[beaq.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaand! If anyone I know has heard of, read material by, or met Ryan Drum, it's probably you. However, someone else reading your LJ -- for example, me -- should read this article on nettles et al..

[eub.livejournal.com]

I do not know him. But I like this passage: In environments with mild winters, nettle shoots begin to emerge in Sagittarius (21.Nov-21.Dec), with especially exuberant stinging hairs. Nettles flower on Malta at Christmas.

especially exuberant

this is kind of a weird dude here

[eub.livejournal.com]

In my area, native whalers reputedly rolled in fresh nettle patches immediately prior to going out whaling to help them stay awake. When I tried nettle self-flagellation, I formed a lot of hot angry red welts which subsided in an hour or less; but, little red centers remained after the welts had resolved and these red spots itched dreadfully for days (and nights). Not recommended.

I realized that the native whalers were staying awake scratching for hours in their little dugout canoes.

[bhudson.livejournal.com]

I eat nettles at restaurants because they seem like such a non-figurative pain to work with. But they're so tasty!

[hosterman.livejournal.com]

Mmmm... nettle soup. Fyi, I will NEVER try rolling in nettles to stay awake. I did sit in some nettles out in the woods once in high school. Ouch! I will never forget what they look like now.