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To Boil Vegetables Green

Boil green vegetables in salted water, optionally adding baking soda to improve color.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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To Boil Vegetables Green

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Prepare and wash the vegetables thoroughly.

  2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

  3. Add the vegetables and keep them uncovered, boiling rapidly until done.

  4. If using hard water, add ½ teaspoon of baking soda to improve color, but use sparingly.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Baking soda
Raises the water's pH, helping green vegetables keep a bright color.

The step that matters

Boil uncovered and rapidly. Acids released by vegetables build up under a lid and turn chlorophyll a dull olive green. A rapid, uncovered boil lets these acids escape and cooks the vegetables quickly, keeping them bright.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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