Why does Lettuce become pink when cutting? (And is it safe to eat?)

If there is a color that we tend to connect to salad, it is definitely not pink. Imagine a head of the crispy, green Romaine you hack for a salad. You use half of the head and put the rest back in the crunchy. A few days later, when you snap a few leaves to the top of a sandwich, you notice that it is shot pink on the edges. If you have ever prepared a salad – especially Romaine or Eisberg – this is not an imaginary scenario. It happened to all of us. But why does salad become pink when it is cut?

Why does salad turn pink after cutting?

It is a completely natural follow -up feature, explains Katie Sabatini, RD, LDN, Manager for Food Safety and Quality Assurance Small leaf farms. Sometimes referred to as “rusting”, this happens when the salad polyphenols (a category of health-useful plant connections) oxidizes as a protective measure against spoilage. In other words, The salad protects against a rapid deterioration. Sabatini says that rust can also be caused by excess moisture and exposure to ethylene gas, a natural plant hormone that is abundant in refrigerators.

“Salad can become pink any Point after the harvest, ”says Sabatini, but notes that it appears more in a bag or a container that was opened and put back in the fridge. Injured or cut leaves accelerate the rust process too.

Is it certain to eat salad that has become pink?

Yes! Totally sure. It shouldn’t taste different either. “If the discoloration disturbs you, you can always choose pink leaves for a more appealing meal,” says Sabatini. Um sicherzustellen, dass Ihr Salat immer noch gut zu essen ist, konzentrieren Sie sich mehr auf die Textur: „Überprüfen Sie, ob der Rest der Blätter immer noch knackig ist und sie lebendig und fest aussehen. Wenn ja, können Sie Ihre Grüns immer noch genießen, wie Sie es normalerweise tun würden“, sagt Sabatini und fügt hinzu, dass Sie eine erhebliche Menge an Simy oder rotes Grünen, die den Rest des Pakets, auf dem Paket, auf dem sicheren Seiten, On the safe side, to deal with the safe pages to move on the safe side to move on the safe side to move on the safe side.

How do you prevent salad pink?

Because excess moisture is a perpetrator of the rust, Wash the salad leaves only as requiredInstead of washing them and put them in the fridge again. If you really want to prepare a pile in advance, Use a salad spinner Get rid of as much water as possible. And keep the salad away from other vegetables, in a properly sealed container or in a separate Sharper drawerto avoid exposure to ethylene gas.