Why food is blue (or usually isn't)

[@sebastianguerra6358]

"Remember that fungi are their own thing" Oh God, now Professor Adam is quizzing us on previous lessons.

[@brandonkaas1714]

I lol'd so hard at this becuase that's exactly what it felt like. "thank goodness I watched my lessons in order that I understood that"

[@rafaelperalta1676]

On a parallel universe, Professor Adam gets angry on that one kid who did not review the past lessons and mistakingly classified fungi as animals.

[@EnigmaticLucas]

@@rafaelperalta1676 Funnily enough, fungi are genetically closer to animals than to plants

[@Music_Sonix]

@@EnigmaticLucas haha someone listened in class

[@TheSlavChef]

Space fungi.

[@manialaee907]

I like how Adam makes videos no one asked for, yet it’s the best thing ever every time

[@caffeinatedrobot4143]

There is an old George Carlin bit asking "Where is the blue food?"

[@michaeltaylor243]

He makes what he wants

[@rafnavi4500]

Science at it's prime. Ask stuff no one asked for and make gold doing so

[@ehNokka]

People need to ask others for everything these days..

[@mr.joesterr5359]

Agreed lol. Its what makes all artists great. (Yes a content creator is definitely and artist in more than 1 way,) because he makes what he is passionate about. The best work comes from what ppl personally feel like making and Adam shows this by being the best foodtuber out there. He supplies according to what HE wants, not to what his audience demands.

[@GuruPrashanth7970]

Once my dad saw my 5 year old sister chewing something blue, his first instinct was "ain't no food that looks blue" and took the stuff out of her mouth and it turned out, she was chewing soap lol.

[@michaelbianchi22]

I'm gonna wash your mouth out with soap! Joke's on you, dad, I'm into that! *Daughter starts eating a distressing amount of soap*

[@tylerandleahcanadian3888]

Lots of unnatural foods that are blue tho

[@Bizarro69]

Oh man!

[@TheIinLiyzz]

Actually to add to this kinda. I went to a concert where a Japanese singer was very hesitant on drinking blue power aid for this same reason. He asked the crowed if it was safe to drink and we all yelled back “yeah!”. In the end he liked it lol

[@emmabennett7699]

Blueberries: 👁👄👁

[@Bendigo1]

I once tried making blue-blueberry muffins using blue food coloring in the mix. When the muffins came out of the oven, they were all green. Nobody else wanted to eat green-blueberry muffins, so I had all the blueberry muffins I wanted, and they were the best green-blueberry muffins I have ever had.

[@NukegamerboyRA]

😂

[@Bendigo1]

@pollycutter I wanted blue blueberry muffins...

[@lechonk8479]

@@Bendigo1 I understand that stinky man doesnt understand

[@oscarthagrouch]

@pollycutter think they dyed the muffins themselves, not the blueberries

[@victoriakathleen01]

When I make blueberry muffins they always turn out slightly blue :) I use a box mix that comes with a can of blueberries in juice, the mix says to drain and rinse them, but I don't rinse. Some of the purple blueberry juice mixes in with the batter, and when it bakes it reacts with the baking soda and turns blue! Fun science :)

[@AlexTenThousand]

Fun fact: as Adam mentioned, one of the several languages that considered blue and green to be the same was, at least in the past, Japanese! Up until the 6th/7th century, the word "Ao" was used to refer to both green and blue, and only around the year 700 the word "Midori", which had previously been used to indicate sprouts, began being used to refer to the colour green. This is also a key element of why traffic lights in Japan use blue instead of green: when the first traffic lights were imported from the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, they were, obviously, green and red, but the legislature referred to them as "Ao". When international traffic laws began being implemented around the 1960s, linguists all over the country began to argue that the government was actually wrong and that it was a misuse of the Japanese language to refer to something that was obviously "Midori" as "Ao", so instead of changing the law's wording, in 1973 the government mandated that all traffic lights use the "bluest shade of green possible", which is why traffic lights in Japan have that peculiar colour.

[@icelandicfaeinPNW]

I love thisninfo

[@learninguser8229]

I don't buy this description. The blue sky and the green of grass/leaves is very different. Surely their language was able to distinguish between those colors early on.

[@montgomeryfortenberry]

Lol the bluest green sounds like some legalese bs instead of just replacing all the blue lights with geeen

[@TheGrenvil]

@@learninguser8229 no they didn't, we only name thinggs when it's useful, if you live your whole life with the sky been the only blue thing you ever see, it's kinda pointless to create a name just for the color of the sky, in the rare occasion that you'd need to differentiate between them you could just say something like 空の色 (sky color), the ancient Greeks also didn't have a name for Blue, in the Odyssey the sea is describer as having "the color of wine"

[@blenderpain8249]

@@learninguser8229 It depends on the culture and language. In East-Asian cultures and languages, blue and green are seen as part of the same group. Obviously, there is visual difference between green and blue but people speaking those languages and with those culture see them as shades of the same colour. It's the same for English speakers. People who speak English tend to group yellow and red colours together. Even though, they are distinct colours, English speakers tend to see them as part of a group and consider them shades of the same group. That's why before the word "orange" ever came to be, people called that colour "yellow-red" or "red-yellow". And it's not only East Asian, and English Western cultures. Other cultures group colours differently. As the video did say: "blue is just a concept invented by humans". Blue is not specific to 1 shade, it is a name of a group of bluish shades of colour. There could be ultramarine blue, indigo blue, dark blue, light blue, aqua, turquoise etc. If English culture and language developed differently, we'd have different ways to categorize our perception of colours. Maybe we'll group yellow and browns together and call that group by a single colour name, maybe we'll group pink and red together and call that by a single name etc.

[@apocling]

Being from Georgia you may not know this, there is an pacific ocean fish called a Lingcod that the flesh in about 20% of the population is blue. I’m Not talking hint of blue , or purple either, I’m talking hyper saturated slurpee blue. It does turn white when cooked but it’s one of the only genuine blue foods I know of.

[@Tinky1rs]

biliverdin, a metabolite of haem, the same colour/pigment you can see in bruises when they turn blueish-green.

[@dudedude64]

He’s from Pennsylvania I think

[@corrompido7680]

I need sushibof that

[@JohnDoe-dw7or]

For evidence/reference: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXm8mpl7mJiAjaM

[@octaneblue6]

Not to mention the blue parrotfish.

[@guyferi]

You made a 12 minute video about how food isn't blue. THIS IS WHY I SUBSCRIBED

[@TheSlavChef]

same.

[@SebastianSarte]

same.

[@pepumarius2006]

besides that, Adam's videos are ALWAYS packed full of cool sciency-facts.

[@shikhar3281]

@@pepumarius2006 which we can talk about to people in the kitchen so we can pretend we know what we are doing

[@pepumarius2006]

@@shikhar3281 while cooking onion and burning it to a crisp :))

[@matthewbrotman2907]

The British sitcom “Chef!” had a line about how they use blue bandaids in the kitchen because they’re easy to spot if they fall off, as there’s no blue food.

[@cheryldk]

They still do in the foodindusty. Loved that sitcom btw.

[@bootblacking]

Standard practice in the food industry, really. That was a good show, too.

[@TheSimplyCooking]

It’s still a thing in the food industry. If you ever had a piece of plastic in your cat or dog food, it’s also always blue.

[@MattZeefy]

have u seen chef

[@huangec]

Blue does exist as a food colour, albeit rare. It is extensively used in SE Asia, extracted from the blue pea flower which grows wild here. Also known as butterfly pea or Asian pigeonwing. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clitoria_ternatea

[@richdobbs6595]

I'm from Minnesota, and we followed Scandinavian traditions for Xmas, including eating lutefisk (cod preserved in lye). Once we tried to be more inclusive to my brother-in-law's German tradition, since he thought, like many folks do, that lutefisk's gelatinous texture and yellowish off white color are disgusting. So we included a red cabbage dish into the menu. It turned into a litmus test. When the red cabbage juice touched the lutefisk, it turned a sickly shade of green. Add a touch of vinegar and it turned red.

[@amberluning5497]

Amazing! I used cabbage derived anthocyanin dye for my graduate thesis, using liquids of different pH levels to "tie dye" silks. I used an aluminum mordant too, because I found that the base color in the fabric was bluer than with other mordants. So cool to see the food science side of these awesome pigments.

[@TheGeenat]

Can you turn garlic blue, naturally?

[@LnRit02]

@@TheGeenatyes, there is a chinese condiment called laba garlic, basically just pickled. the cloves turn a blue-green color when placed in a vinegar solution.

[@tlm2096]

I’m realizing more and more that a lot of this guys videos are like Tom Scott but for food. He asks an interesting oddly specific question and then interviews an expert in that field to answer that question. Except Tom Scott’s videos are usually start with an interesting story or place that leads him to ask questions about that place, while Adam just asks general food questions

[@abberss]

Yes very similar journalistic styles, but Adam is much more focused on the subject of food whereas Tom makes videos about nearly any topic and is more focused on telling a story

[@legendarygary2744]

@@abberss Good point!

[@victorquesada7530]

That explains why the algorithm brought me here.

[@wentoneisendon6502]

I love this channel. It tackles stuff that are just taken for granted in cooking, like whether seasoning really matters and he (tries) objective tests to test between them all

[@juneguts]

This field does NOT taste good. Do NOT eat this field.

[@Chocomint_Queen]

>"You get this, repulsive green" >Shows gunmetal grey goop. I'm not colourblind, am I?

[@virtualabc7847]

No it was a little green but not really

[@victorquesada7530]

If you watch his video about how cameras lie when it comes to filming food, you can see why the video might be one way but his in person perception is (and ours would be) another.

[@roebuckmckinney]

I'm colorblind and it didn't look very green to me. You might want to take an online test and get a color detector app for your phone. They're free, and they do help.

[@ruthpatricia6367]

@@victorquesada7530 you sound like someone who actually pays attention in class, trying to explain something the other person missed that was taught in another class before

[@shockingheaven]

Oh, I've done this IRL and it does turn green-ish. Weird.

[@ThePotThickens]

She did a great job of trying to explain chemistry and physics to the lay person. I've done wine chemistry demonstrations showing this concept by adding an alkali to a red wine to turn it blue. It changes the extent of pi-electron conjugation and changes the wavelength of light it absorbs. Interesting topic. Really cool. Thanks!

[@nicksucks8396]

Can you drink that blue wine afterwards?

[@morristgh]

@@nicksucks8396Should be fine to drink as long as you don't go overboard with the alkalinity. It will most likely taste horrible though.

[@KIJIKLIPS]

@@morristgh damn I really wanted drinkable red now blue wine.

[@thewittyusername]

@@nicksucks8396 wine is naturally acidic, so in the process of turning it bitter you would potentially make it rather salty. Baking soda is often put into acidic foods for various reasons (such as leavening), so it should be safe to drink. Might be able to build a cocktail around that but I don't know if it would be worth it. Just get a nice Créme de Violette (like Rotheman & Winters) and call it good.

[@TheFantasticFordy]

why did she decide to do an interview millions may see with wet hair

[@burgerbobbelcher]

Blue is actually incredibly rare in nature overall. The blues that we are used to seeing in nature don't come from pigment, but from microstructures that trap all other wavelengths except blue.

[@toni6194]

But the sky looks kinda blue and the eyes of some animals

[@lonestarr1490]

@@toni6194 For the sky that's Rayleigh scattering.

[@badoem5353]

@@toni6194 and same with animals, human for example only have brown or lack of brown pigment. Same with Rayleigh scattering the blue lights has the highest energy so I doesn't get absorbed but reflected cause the sun is a big ass laser and will try to fry you

[@Dr.Frankensteen]

Blue lobsters are definitely am exception here

[@badoem5353]

@@Dr.Frankensteen I think with the lobsters it's the same as flamingo's their diet makes them pink

[@geesuslookatthatalpaca7471]

This just brings back memories of reading Percy Jackson, when his mom made all of the food blue!

[@walterw2]

i really liked this week's expert, you could see the wheels turning in her head as she laboriously worked at dumbing down her science to the point that a schlub like me could sort of grasp it being a fan of skeptics guide to the universe has taught me just how hard science communication is (and how important)

[@markjohnson7887]

Speaking of communicaTION. Did you notice how she ends a lot of her sentences like that were quesTIONS? lol

[@pd94832]

@@markjohnson7887 I noticed it too. My bad ;) I do that a lot (even when I'm not talking about science) and it drives my BF crazy. Like OP said, science communication can be really challenging, and I give Adam so many props for being amazing at it.

[@pd94832]

Thank you so much! Although I think you give me too much credit. It was more like "trying to remember everything I've learned while working on my degree" :D

[@markjohnson7887]

@@pd94832 I am sure I do plenty of things people notice and/or find annoying. So no problem. :) Science communication can be difficult for sure. I think you did a great job, I just happened to notice the inflections.

[@Kiefsti]

@@markjohnson7887 Oh good, not just me! I just left a question, asking if I was the only one confused! I have autism, and I thought she was asking me questions every time 😂

[@lauriepops2783]

"Blue is a social construct" is my new favourite response to anything now

[@SamothIorio]

Blue might be a social construct, but green is not a creative colour

[@jonahhamilton9609]

@@SamothIorio 😂 I was not expecting a “don’t hug me I’m scared” reference in this comment section

[@blackd0w13]

It's a misuse of "social construct" though. That actually could apply to the word "blue", but we have a better term for that, which is "language". But, as he went on to point out himself, the wavelengths of light that English-speaking people describe as shades of "blue" don't change, no matter what sound you make with your mouth to describe it. A rose by any other name is still a rose, etc. 99% of the time you see/hear someone use "social construct", they're misusing it. In this case, I don't even get why.

[@lauriepops2783]

@@blackd0w13 that's interesting! I've never really thought much about that type of thing

[@anirudhviswanathan3986]

Man! The way Adam focussed in on his glasses for the segue into the sponsor segment is just incredible!!

[@baylinkdashyt]

He does do a damn fine segue, doesn't he? Almost as good as Sam Denby.

[@marcuskruger3011]

That's why they pay him the big bucks

[@alifaan595]

There is a flower in Southeast Asia called the Butterfly Pea Flower; it has an excellent blue colour and is widely used in local cuisine. Such as Nasi Kerabu which is a Malay dish where rice is cooked with the flower petals making it an excellent blue colour.

[@sansprobus7209]

Pea flowers are an excellent example of Anthocyanins being ph detectors. It's an excellent way to color your cocktails, if you control your acid!

[@koteghe7600]

I like to make them like tea or was it other thing

[@JAN0L]

Fun fact birds with blue feathers don't actually have any blue pigment in them, they create this color through geometry of proteins in their feathers that only allow blue light to get reflected back. For other colors they typically use pigments they absorb from what they eat, but blue pigment gets destroyed during digestion.

[@di-riso]

Yea this also applies to people with Blue eye

[@gibsonflyingv2820]

That’s also not true in all cases, it’s blue due to structural color, rather than pigmentation. But genuine blue pigmentation exists in nature, it’s just very rare. Not all colors come from what an animal eats necessarily. Check out certain blue butterflies.

[@Hurkinator1112]

George Carlin was one of my favourite stand up comedians, did you know that on his grave it says “I was here a minute ago” Nice use of his stand up

[@pits.893]

@@mariag8806 Had we had more George Carlins in our world, maybe our world wouldn't had become the sad place it is today. I've been thinking lately that the lack of charismatic and wise voices in our societies is really felt in such periods of crisis.

[@jake9705]

Horseshoe crabs with their miraculous, medically useful blue blood: "So thankful we weren't discussed in the context of cooking! 😳"

[@phelanii4444]

Isn't that because of the presence of copper in their blood?

[@vaelophisnyx9873]

@@phelanii4444 mhm, hemocyanin. Hemoglobin, but copper instead of iron.

[@victorquesada7530]

Also, some rare percentage of lobster are blue as well.

[@Banom7a]

people in Southeast Asia ate them though

[@lexuanhai6999]

@@Banom7a Fun fact: One species of horseshoe crab contains tetrodotoxin, so eating the wrong kind can kill you.

[@mikalagounaris2371]

I fucking knew it. He kept talking about anthocyanin for so long, he was gonna get to blue food eventually. You did great Adam! My mom loves your vids

[@Check_5_]

Idk what video it was but he mentioned pigments in crops and it made me interested for so long I’m glad we get a whole vid on it

[@AxxLAfriku]

Don't talk to me! I am famous! Don't dislike my good good GOOD videos! Don't talk to me, dear mika

[@tanushbhansali]

Lol my mom hates his videos, coz i make her cook the stuff ;D

[@133r]

He talked about it in “Ask Adam”

[@Lady0Reynolds]

I made "blue" gnocchi once, and that was cool. I knew that the purple potatoes that my husband liked us to have for mashed potatoes would turn blue while cold in the fridge, and I thought it'd be fun to make gnocchi out of them just to have little purple chunks in my soup. And yeah! The frozen extras were blue, they stained the water blue while boiling, but they turned purple of course once heated up just like the purple mashed potatoes. it was tons of fun!

[@thehangmansdaughter1120]

Oh my god! You just reminded me of something my late father did when I was little, I hadn't thought about it in years. He would affix pieces of carrot, cabbage, broc and peas to potatoes to make wee "veggie men" who would make me grow tall. I'm 5 foot nothing, but it's still a wonderful memory of him. He also said eating the crusts of bread would "put hairs on my chest". I was a 4yo girl, so make of that what you will.

[@pitbullbob9569]

lmfaoaoaoaoaoaoao

[@matthewbowen5841]

Your memory made both Mr. Worldwide and myself chuckle!

[@misha6708]

best fucking dad ever

[@yoissy]

That's such a sweet memory! Thanks for sharing :)

[@frankiemalt]

To those curious about other blue foods/flowers: it’s Interesting butterfly pea tea wasn’t mentioned

[@drasco61084]

Those are so cool I remember adding lemon juice and baking soda to see the color change

[@nackedgrils9302]

Flowers aren't really food and the hydrangea were only mentioned to illustrate how anthocyanins bond to metals ions and are also affected by pH through the addition of specific salts to the soil which isn't common practice when growing Clitoria Ternatea. That being said, it's true that it has a stunning colour. Also, please don't call that tea, it's tisane. I'm sure that other real tea enthusiasts can relate to the feeling of dying inside a little bit more each time somebody calls any herbal/floral infusion ''tea''.

[@aragusea]

Anthocyanin.

[@person9513]

@@aragusea my favorite food is purple. not a purple food, just purple.

[@Doppioristretto]

Yeah but Butterfly Pea Tisane? Doesn't have the recognition factor of 'tea', people might think you're talking about a magical young adult novel or something... on that note if Lauren uses that title I will pursue compensation.

[@jonwesick2844]

Recipe - blue corn tortillas, purple cabbage, blue cheese, & Uncle Billy's Wild Blue Yonder blueberry hot sauce.

[@Xanderqwerty123]

Well now I have to try that

[@andrewjordan5174]

Needs blue meat type thing. Blue whale?

[@polizfreakz]

⁰⁰

[@yuddpudd]

@@andrewjordan5174 But Blue Whale meat is red, and eating it taboo in my places of the world. Although you could food coloring to any meat I guess

[@andrewjordan5174]

@@yuddpudd why do you know this?

[@tunasalad3919]

lol, When Carlin appeared on screen, the same words were going through my mind. "We love you and miss you, George!"

[@faro_inc]

I always GASP in how you blend the sponsorship in your videos. I'm really focused and BOOM a sponsorship that I watch with the same excitement. Adam's mind is like ughh top tier. Thanks for the content is always a pleasure to watch. Cheers from Brazil.

[@arathduiliath9074]

As a scientist I really appreciate these videos that cover the technical side of various food and agriculture topics in a way that's designed to be understandable by everyone. This is the kind of stuff that makes people curious and look into the world around them regardless of whether they go into academia which I see as a good thing.

[@essie23la]

"the ladies always say I have beautiful blue eyes" I'm in tears lmaoo

[@freezysyahz]

😂😂😂

[@tylisirn]

And blue eyes are completely another story... Blue eyes have no pigment in them, instead it's the nanoscopic structure of the tissue itself that interacts with light. So blue is the intrinsic colour of eyes if there isn't any other colorants present.

[@IamJustaSimpleMan]

Fun fact: In Germany, depending on the region, we call purple cabbage either "Rotkraut" (red herb, red cabbage) or "Blaukraut" (blue herb, blue cabbage). Shows how different the views on the colour spectrum can be even within one culture (or, depending on the view, a couple of more or less related cultures).

[@jackogrady3118]

Maybe one of them named the cabbage before they cooked it, and they other named it after they cooked it? 😂

[@IamJustaSimpleMan]

@@jackogrady3118 good theory, but I´m pretty sure the answer is no xD

[@tz8785]

The other ingredients it is cooked with also matter. A lot.

[@justlikejones]

Traditionally Blaukraut is cooked with soda and juniper (basic), while Rotkohl is made with apples and vinegar. But the colour also depends on the soil.

[@IamJustaSimpleMan]

@@justlikejones I wasnt aware that there are different recipes corresponding with the different names, I just thought its a regional distinction. I grew up in Franken, and people there call it Blaukraut, no matter how its cooked, as far as I know.

[@leonnguyen3442]

The “Blue green colexification” idea is true because in vietnam we say (and note that idk how to spell it in vietnamese) “san” aka blue or “san kay” blue tree, indicating that san kay means green bc trees

[@BigDaddy-em9ro]

You're right xanh* btw

[@Cactus_V]

Xanh - can be both green and blue Xanh lá - is green (lá means leaf) Xanh dương - is blue (dương kinda means ocean)

[@mynewaccount2604]

Yes that is indeed what was said in the video

[@zestymay6026]

@@Cactus_V or "xanh lam" and "xanh ngọc". I can't really tell the them apart without context.

[@basilofgoodwishes4138]

Its also true with Green apples in Japan. They call them Blue Apples.

[@looney2nes]

You can actually chop up the red cabbage and boil it to extract the pigment and then use resulting solution as a pH indicator. It will change into all sorts of colors depending upon the pH of whatever you are mixing with it.

[@bradcsuka5054]

I only came across Adam's channel a week or two ago, and boy am I glad that I did. Fantastic content, delivered in a compelling and informational manner. Kudos to Adam.

[@LochNessHamster]

This channel is like Vsauce if the "sauce" part of the name actually implied a connection to food

[@JosephOD]

The only thing missing is the Existential Crisis we get.

[@LochNessHamster]

@@JosephOD Just wait until he starts talking about how you are what you eat, and therefore just a collection of ever changing particles in the shape of you.

[@ruthpatricia6367]

@@JosephOD you can get that in his video "what's the point of cooking at home anymore?"

[@eduardovasconcelos2485]

There's a rare Brazilian fruit called "Cauabori" (from Tupi language, "blue fruits herb", pronunciation: Kawabory), Coccocypselum lanceolatum, that has a distinctive bright blue colour. One of my favourite berries, you all should Google it to see how beautiful it is.

[@idek1013]

Nicee

[@rogervanaman6739]

That is VERY blue. Was half expecting purple.

[@srotmobile2343]

Wow, that's like really BLUE

[@PeaJayers]

It is beautiful!

[@eduardovasconcelos2485]

@@rogervanaman6739 Yes, it is INDEED blue. Actually, it's the bluest fruit I ever met.

[@josephiroth89]

I love how this channel has basically become the Good Eats of the internet age.

[@jfrfilms6697]

Good Eats came out in 1999 and Alton Brown himself had a heavy impact on the internet

[@lindenshepherd6085]

That makes total sense! Adam has mentioned before that he was inspired by Alton Brown as a young cook, so I bet he’d appreciate the comparison!

[@GiveZeeAChance]

I learned about the pH indicator status of anthocyanins a few years back when I made some homemade pork ramen with "red" onions. The end result had blue onions and I immediately googled it to make sure I did nothing wrong lol Nope turns out my ramen was just basic 🙂

[@allyenderman1502]

Ramen is made with high pH noodles, so that makes sense! Usually an alkaline salt like sodium carbonate (washing soda) and/or potassium carbonate is used in the pasta itself to make them more slippery and slurpable, and also to give them their characteristic elasticity! So realistically, your ramen was just correct! :)

[@GiveZeeAChance]

@@allyenderman1502 Yeah, I used a hambone to make the stock for the ramen so I think that also contributed

[@rubberbread]

"The ladies always say i have beautiful blue eyes" -eggplant guy (12:50)

[@elizabethblack7945]

"Why are there no blue foods?" *sally jackson has entered the chat*

[@mansik1579]

I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THIS

[@JaLynnTardisGeek]

I was looking for this comment!!!! Took to long to find...

[@HiperPivociarz]

Just you people wait till 2022, this is gonna blow up

[@ninjashuriken]

Finally found one

[@scriblespider]

All of my blessings to you, dear commenter. You are doing God's work.

[@juliabogajo]

Fun fact: there's no blue frootloops in Brazil, there's a law that limits the amount, and sometimes makes illegal to add artificial coloring in foods (candy has a different law)

[@thaliacrafts407]

Same in the Netherlands! Im glad, because some of that stuff is really nasty

[@pd94832]

That's why we're trying to replace it with natural extracts ;)

[@alice-tk9ed]

woww i have eaten it before but i never noticed it

[@Brahkolee]

There’s similar legislation in different parts of the US, and in the past few years some companies made the change to natural colorantsto simplify production. Basically it’s just easier to make your product a standardized way instead of having “fake” blue cereal and “real” blue cereal for different states/regions. I don’t think Froot Loops use blue dye anymore at all.

[@ESPmrBrough]

i'm going to start using "blue is a social construct" as a meme caption

[@christosvoskresye]

What you say about "blue" is spot on! What a lot of people don't get is that the same thing applies to "planet". There is a spectrum of characteristics for astronomical bodies -- size, mass, distance from a star, etc. When we choose to block out a certain parameter space for those objects and give it a name, the size, mass, distance from a star, etc. may be perfectly well defined and scientifically measurable, but our decision on how to divide up the parameter space and what name to give it is entirely a cultural decision.

[@ИевлеваКатя]

Pamela Denish is trying so hard to dumb it down for us, I really appreciate that

[@ductboss6789]

"Why I color my food, not my house"

[@DyslexicMitochondria]

Haha

[@moremitochondria2737]

@@DyslexicMitochondria Hey mate I watch your videos. Big fan of your content

[@baylinkdashyt]

'Not my kitchen.'

[@Aluxix]

Bruh

[@TheSlavChef]

hahaha my thoughts exactly

[@nksherman]

There's a third type of red plant pigment you missed called betalains. They're present in things like cacti and beets (where the pigment gets its name from). they replace the function of anthocyanins in the carophyllales, aside from 2 families. Betalains are also the popular natural red pigment from cacti used in foods.

[@cezarcatalin1406]

I bet there are even more natural pigments.

[@FreunddesLumpi]

This is a quite important fact. For example the color of red kale (anthocyane) and beet root (betalaine) looks very similar but has a biological different background. This can be easily shown by their behavior towards pH shift, showing different colours.

[@TheGeenat]

@@FreunddesLumpi does either one of those turn blue by “increasing” acidity?

[@fran6b]

I'm definitely in for a Bleu cheese episode!

[@aleisterlavey9716]

Inside a cordon bleu.

[@FyiYT773]

Hey Adam, do you think you could make a video about bay leaves? I've been cooking with them for years now and I always have them in my cabinet but I don't really know what they actually do to the dish. I like hearing you talk all science-y.

[@holliisixx]

i am stunned that blue butterfly pea wasn't mentioned because it's used as a natural blue food dye, mostly in layered cocktails. It's a rare source of blue anthocyanins

[@phoenixpinkmyn5535]

I'd love to see a blue fungi video! There are some SHOCKINGLY blue edible mushrooms and I'd be very interested to hear the real nitty gritty of how that works.

[@erisesoteric7571]

Psilocybin has a blue colour, so those "edible" mushrooms might induce some hallucinations or, in large doses, ego-death.

[@phoenixpinkmyn5535]

@@erisesoteric7571 I'm thinking Lactarius indigo, which isn't a hallucinogen.

[@EduardRitok]

yeah! in my country, there is a certain mushroom breed which is purplish-blue and they are absolutely delicious! unfortunately, i do not know neither english, nor latin name ..but they are officially registered as edible and delicious

[@alexdhomochevsky7904]

There is also a thing called 'structured color' when color comes from.. ehm.. microstructure of the surface and not from a chemical. The most notable example is Pollia condensata, sometimes called the marble berry. They are like VERY blue. Of course, structured color disappears when cooked.

[@walterw2]

yeah, i saw a short youtube about the lack of blue in nature and they discussed "blue" birds and butterflies, saying that very thing! they have that iridescent blue color that's more of an "effect" from the microstructures of the feathers or wing scales being at just the right size to match the wavelength of blue this one lepidopterist even showed off the exception to the rule, a butterfly that really did have actual blue pigmentation; it looked like a regular butterfly with light blue paint splotched on the wings, totally different

[@alexdhomochevsky7904]

@@walterw2 I beleive I saw that one too :) There is also a more lengthy one from VSauce2 about rarity of blue in nature

[@jasonreed7522]

Its crazy how its somehow easier to be blue by having microstructures that use optics to only reflect a particular wavelength than to just make a blue pigment for your feathers/scales/wings. And a fun quirk of this type of blue, if you get the structure wet water fills the spaces instead of air, and since water has a different index of refraction than air the color changes (usually to green) because the effective wavelength in the water is different than in air. (Optics is weird, trust me im an EE that stuff gets to being basically witchcraft)

[@alexdhomochevsky7904]

@@jasonreed7522 one can argue that color of a pigment is also sort of a structural thing, only it's molecular structure. Just a scale issue

[@jasonreed7522]

@@alexdhomochevsky7904 personally i wouldn't make that argument, pigment "structure" is just chemistry the way that protiens are shape/structure dependent but are just chemistry. I would consider this very different from the biological growth shape to make microstructures such as those that let gecko's climb walls with vanderwals forces or make butterflies wings iridescent blue. One of the consequences of the microstructures vs pigments is that blue dyes are very rare, especially from organic/living sources like flowers or animals.

[@GianM87]

As someone who focused on food chemistry while working up the chain to become a production brewer, I would love the opportunity to just talk to Mrs. Denish about anthocyanins. Also, if anyone wants to watch another fun KZbin video about the science of blue, look up "Why is Blue so Rare in Nature?"

[@rachelnishimura1369]

For some reason this has been my favorite video on Adam's channel lately. I love the guest interviews!

[@olanrewajuihenacho178]

Adam is my favourite subscription of 2021. Food science, biochemistry, sociology, psychology…fascinating stuff. 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👍🏿🇬🇧

[@praatyush2615]

5:21 Adam: Tries weird glasses in the privacy of his home Also Adam: Uploads this on the Internet

[@jake9705]

3:00 -- It makes me happy that the food researcher who studies blue foods also has blue eyes 😊

[@inisus]

When you are getting a physics lecture on the visible spectrum of light while watching a cooking show.

[@bennyyc]

Adam, as a regular viewer on your youtube channel, this is just amazing the research you do and present. Keep it up because I trust you.

[@mathew9710]

I really like the way Adam commits to show us the deep an complicated science behind everyday products such as foods. Thank you for consulting experts and recognizing the value of chemical knowledge of foods.

[@mytuberecap5346]

Pamela Denish: "So food is blue because of Anthocyanin, and then we have to consider Quantum mechanics..." My last brain cell: "I'm blue, da ba dee da ba daa 🎶🎶"

[@DocTommy1972]

nooooooo o!!!! now I have to look for the song. how could you?

[@pd94832]

I'm making this comment the inscription on my thesis. Thank you :D

[@mytuberecap5346]

@@pd94832 Hol' up! Are you THE Pamela??

[@BabyGirl-cw6uj]

My brain during my first ever biochem class, lmfaoooo 😂😭

[@themaushpit9791]

2 comments for the scientists. First I love the video! And I love the integration of science into these kinds of videos. Great content as always Adam! 1. There is a non-native tree that is growing in the Kenae Arboretum in Maui, Hawaii that has an edible fruit that is very blue like Royal Blue or Cerulean or in that range (edible but not particularly desirable...edible meaning it isn’t poisonous according to what I’ve read). The fruit is about the size of those gum balls from old fashioned sweet shops (maybe 2cm or up to 1 inch in diameter, and mainly spherical in shape). If I can recall the name I’ll edit to add it. 2. I was fortunate to get to go scuba diving on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef about 11 years ago and I was struck by how much blue life there was on the reef. Some of the giant clams looked blue, some of the corals looked blue, encrusting sponges were blue, and I suspect some of the aquatic plants are blue (either that or there a a lot of animals with “plant habits” on the reef in that part of the world. I thought that might be of interest to Pam Denish. Take a botanical collecting research trip to Cairns, Australia and go diving to see some of the most biodiversity of blue life I’ve ever seen in nature.

[@rainbowosprey1619]

With some googling, it might be the blue marble tree?

[@Bubble__Bri]

There’s also the lactarius indigo mushroom. Very vibrant blue and edible.

[@AmataTai]

I extracted all the juice from 2lbs of blueberries, and made an amazing multicolored cake making use of pH shifts (lemon juice and baking soda)

[@AmataTai]

Basically had a very lemony pink top, a blue green base (the cake mix had enough baking powder on it's own), and a lovely burgundy blueberry chutney for the filling/topping

[@veevee111]

@@AmataTai you made an ombre cake, fantastic!

[@AmataTai]

The remaining juice made for a fantastic water mixer as well~

[@symphoniesofthesea]

Adam Ragusea, you shifted to food journalism from food making journalism. I love it!

[@epickiller30]

10:48 I'm pretty sure antioxidants are negatively charged since they are reduced and they reduce free radicals that are oxidized and have a positive charge...

[@mermaidno5425]

me: project presentation due next week, paper due in three days and an exam tomorrow I still haven't studied for KZbin: wanna know why food is blue? me: absolutely yes

[@adamahmed366]

same

[@lunaakuma5044]

Percy Jackson would be really happy to watch this video

[@lamThinker]

Now that's a name I haven't heard of in a long time. *stares off into the sunset*

[@weatherinme6882]

@@lamThinker same here

[@JST-x4l]

Came to the comments to see if someone had had made a dam PJ reference. Not disappointed

[@sanjeethmahendrakar]

Fuck. Now I'm compelled to go and reread the whole series. Thanks.

[@crazycarl8266]

Beat me to it

[@synerzu]

After watching multiple of Adam's videos, I'm convinced he's Tom Scott of food content.

[@L1ttlef0ot]

I appreciate the attention to detail with having blue dish soap and green dishes in the background

[@julianlee4227]

This feels like something Adam’s kid would ask, and then he would say “huh, that’s a good question” and comes back with this fully edited 13 minute video

[@LeDracodon]

When she was talking about anthocyanin helping against Cancer with "It has a positve charge so it abosbs free radicals", I kind of understand people buying into pseudoscience voodoo stuff. I mean, I am a physicist and I did also chemistry during College and free radical traps are pretty basic but right now, the way it was said, I am bit more understanding.

[@mythnam]

I want Adam to do an antioxidants video now, because my understanding of the whole thing is that 1) when we found out about free radicals and antioxidants, there was reason to believe that this could be a medical breakthrough, but 2) it didn't pan out and the effects of antioxidants just aren't big enough to even detect clinically. I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong about this, that the antioxidant thing is just pure hype at this point, and it was kind of jarring to hear that stuff repeated on this channel.

[@gaetan4164]

@@mythnam I thought the same exact thing

[@kkounal974]

I'm sure she meant it in a prevention rather than solution way, it's just that the way she said it was kind of ambiguous. Radicals and the chain reactions they cause are definitely a thing but it really is a matter of scale when it to harm. It's often overblown because it's just godsent scam material.

[@fidelkva4810]

It was only the supplements that did damage, not when gotten from foods

[@TetrahedreX]

@@mythnam Megadose supplements don't show much benefit, but foods rich in "antioxidants" do. However, additional science has been demonstrating that the positive effects of antioxidants in foods don't seem to have much to do with their antioxidant behavior, but rather other effects of the substances in question. For one thing, they act as light stressors that induce the body to produce its own, much more powerful antioxidants. Other effects are reliant on the nature of the substances themselves, of which there are thousands and thousands of types. Because of this, it doesn't make that much sense to talk about them as if they were one big category of "antioxidants" anymore. It makes a lot more sense to look at specific groups (e.g., anthocyanins, carotenoids, flavonoids, polyphenols, tannins, etc.) and their specific effects.

[@ameliorata4931]

Eifell 65 would love Anthocyanin.

[@bolotniy]

Blue Man Group as well.

[@CubicApocalypse128]

They'd love phycocyanin even more.

[@PersonCalledErin]

i really appreciate the mention of the social construct part. it's a pretty important aspect in a lot of topics that people ignore.

[@johncounts2182]

as someone who instinctually rolls their eyes violently when someone says 'X is a social construct,' could you elaborate? I'd like to know why, if there is any reason other than pointed conditioning, this has become a widely accepted view. (to be specific, that view that things which are quantifiably observable in nature are yet still social constructs. no one would argue that linguistic rules, for instance, are not social constructs) for good measure, I am sincerely asking. If I weren't being sincere, I would be better served by remaining silently in my echo chamber.

[@thegreatandterrible4508]

@@johncounts2182 "observable" is a generally poor estimator of objectivity, given how fragile perception is. Something can feel objective, such as color, but be largely based on personal biases, predisposition, or even biological differences. Just look at the dreaded "dress" meme, or laurel vs yanny. Significantly more than we give credit for is the result of social conditioning, regardless of how objective it feels.

[@johncounts2182]

@@thegreatandterrible4508 what then would be a 'good' estimator of objectivity if not quantifiable observation? if you can put a number to it, like say 400-500nm, (the frequency of blue light) would that not be an objective observation? call it what you will; red, blue, or banana; but when you say that the color blue is a social construct you are objectively saying that photons simply do not travel within the 400-500nm wavelength spectrum? like I said, "no one would argue that linguistic rules, for instance, are not social constructs" - the classification of a design as 'dress' or 'robe' is a linguistic rule, dresses are not social constructs, they are physical items which are argued are in this or that category, but none would argue, for instance, that a dress is not worn, and none would argue that blue is not seen. (even if they call it red) is the social construct argument then arguing that there aught be fewer names for existing colors, that a blue shirt aught be called green-red or just red? I was under the assumption the argument was that there are no blue shirts, and that the spoon doesn't exist. there are political arguments as well, but I'll leave those at the current level of mention. edit: changed a period to a question mark

[@thegreatandterrible4508]

@@johncounts2182 except that the video very clearly explains that that isn't what the statement "blue is a social construct" means. That wavelength of light exists all around the world, but the color of blue does not. The argument isn't that there should be fewer names, or more, or anything like that. It's just saying that our division of colors is arbitrary. There are not, in fact, distinct categories of light. There is a spectrum that we have arbitrarily divided based on what feels natural to us, which can very from person to person, and especially from culture to culture. It's similar to the idea that generations are a social construct. Yes, there are people born from the years of 1997-present (exact years depend on who you ask), but there is no "Gen Z". There's no special distinction that switched over after 1996. It's an arbitrary distinction. Aka, a social construct.

[@PersonCalledErin]

​@@thegreatandterrible4508 you're really doing me a solid here explaining this stuff to them for me. I don't know if I could do as good a job in my current state of mind (ADHD and such are a pain to deal with) But yeah exactly this p much I do feel like this often comes back to people just deferring to intuition and engaging in some circular logic to explain why something is objectively something even when we're talking about social constructionism which is separate from things just BEING. It's about us describing those things and a lot of our definitions refer to social utility, they have use for us.

[@ericscavetta2311]

Dividing the spectrum into commonly agreed colors not only varies by culture and language (example: in Italian and Thai there are different words for "blue" and "azure/sky" which do not overlap like in English), but also by individual. To my eye and brain, there are MANY shades of green (from chartreuse on the yellowish side to teal/turquoise on the bluish side), but I've met others who 'see' chartreuse definitively as a 'yellow' and teal/turquoise as a 'blue'. Similar to seeing the purple/indigo/blue spectrum as blue in the case of blueberries, black currants, and such.

[@dukkcc2]

i love these channels that dive deep into some super random subject, thank you

[@ranmindyt2902]

I love this channel

[@adamshirley9594]

Example of colexification: I taught English in Japan for two years. I heard people use 赤 (あか, "aka," red) for the color the traffic light turns when you should stop. For the color that means go, though, they used the word 青 (あお, "ao"), which is the same word used for the color of the sky. They use the word 緑 (みどり, "midori") for most of the same things we would call green, like clothing. Turns out there's an entry on Wikipedia about this exact thing: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ao_(color)

[@justincameron9123]

Something else of interest, MOST cases of blue in the animal kingdom (i.e butterflies and birds) are not due to pigmentation but rather physical structures that manipulate the way light is reflected. This is true for the human eye too, brown eyes are a result of high concentrations of melanin in the eye while blue eyes are not due to a blue pigment but rather the natural structure of the eye when not being occluded by melanin

[@purplegill10]

Yes this. It's super rare, but very cool, when you can find a truly blue pigmented animal like the blue ringed octopus.

[@biddyde123]

I just want to take this time to tell you how much I enjoy your channel. Thank you. ~ From Bishop Georgia.

[@loicmiermont8401]

Thank you. This is one of the most interesting video I've seen online in a looooonnng time (or when the internet fits his role of opening knowledge to people, instead of... you know.... the "noise").

[@andup4936]

The tag changed from Macon to Knoxville!

[@scherzebet9003]

So is he actually moving?

[@barrackobamar]

No one is talking about the new kitchen with white counters + gas burners

[@ShaunRuigrok]

Yes! And a different kitchen with a gas cooktop too

[@knowledgeanddefense1054]

Blue, yellow, pink! Whatever man, just keep bringing me that!

[@stam7250]

*! TIGHT ! TIGHT ! TIGHT ! TIGHT !TIGHT!*

[@eliasarja3881]

yellow? fookin bananas and potatoes are red for you?

[@yucatansuckaman5726]

Popsicles are my favorite blue food.

[@mrdoh450]

Mine too

[@yucatansuckaman5726]

@@mrdoh450 Adam is gonna tell us that it's gonna kill us. But I still love blue flavor. 💙

[@pd94832]

Adding that to my list of products to incorporate our product into :D

[@BabyGirl-cw6uj]

Read this as "testicules" 🤦

[@milozimben]

To your point about blue-green colexification, Japanese for a long time also didn’t distinguish between the two, but kind of in the opposite direction from what you see in European languages; 青 (ao) means “blue” now, but it also used to mean green. Now the word 緑 (midori) is used for “green”. However, there is one interesting remnant of the language’s colexification; a green traffic light is still referred to as a “blue light”

[@HasekuraIsuna]

One thing I have heard is that the plastics on the "green" lights actually used to be blue, but with incadescent light bulbs casting a yellowish light created a green looking light.

[@Chrischi3TutorialLPs]

Here's an interesting bit: Red cabbage, in southern Germany, is sometimes stored in a base and served as Blaukraut. Also, one of the first experiments you do in chemistry class in Germany is to extract anthocyanin from red cabbage for use as an acidity indicator.

[@phenom1153]

0:50 This is very common in Nepal And I sometimes get too confused when my parents talk about colours. Although blue has its own term(Nilo) in our language. They often refer both green and blue with same name(Hariyo).

[@Jared_Evans]

The moment I saw this, my first thought was Percy Jackson. "I guess I should explain the blue food. See, Gabe had one told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop." - The Lightning Thief

[@naominekomimi]

Great video! it might also be interesting to note that blue sometimes happens because of structural things, like the blue of a butterfly wing. Even if there were a properly vibrant blue food, if it was the result of a microscopic physical structure rather than a pigment then it wouldn't survive the cooking process (because heat or water will damage the structure).

[@fishsteak3246]

There is a blue vibrant fruit that is actually edible with that microscopic structure giving it a wonderful blue colour. It's a blue quandong, elaeocarpus (e. grandis is the best example). While they don't have very much of the edible flesh, they still fit the bill. The flesh was traditionally eaten ground into a paste with water by indigenous Australians.

[@FigmentHF]

Best channel I’ve found recently. I love the science and depth behind food, especially simple, tasty home cooked food that we eat on the daily.

[@kevinbihari]

About the color change. I could be wrong, but what i remember from highschool is the folowing Long conjugation means that there are plenty of hybrid orbitals between a full orbital of the atom. The homo and lumo (highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied mo) get closer. The wavelength has to be spesific. It carries energy in discrete amounts. To go from one orbital to another, e.g. to absorb it you need the exact amount. The homo and lumo get closer by adding steps between the orbitals making the lowest energy requirement lower and thus the wavelength longer. Longer wavelengths go from blue to red. With the o+ it is not cyclical. As hydrogen is added it becomes congugated. Acid adds h+. Therefore it will filter out the blue, making it red.

[@carlacolumna2046]

Funfact: Red Cabbage has two different names in Germany. One is "Rot-kraut" (lit red Herb) the other one is "Blau-kraut" (lit blue Herb) Depending on where you live, the soil might be acidic or alkaline, turning the cabbage either blue or red. And so two entirely different names for the same thing emerged.

[@dishwasherh]

Lit?

[@Yo_wassup]

The scientist is back at it again with very specific food questions

[@Hamox]

Hi

[@Hamox]

He is a scientist

[@asdfrozen]

I've noticed that whenever I saute red cabbage, it turns blue.

[@andrewcooper7256]

When I cut it, sometimes I get a blue watery substance on the cutting board. I've noticed leftover fried rice with red cabbage often has blue rice grains and egg curds. I'm 90% certain the reason red onions go hot pink in a pickle is because of the acid reaction discussed in the video, similar to how butterfly pea behaves.

[@fariesz6786]

i too noticed that cabbage gets bluer when cut, especially when it dries out a bit. maybe the air snatches up ascorbic acid via oxidation? though it probably doesn't work like that. i've also witnessed tap water turning a beautiful blue, which i suppose is from minerals like chalk.

[@joshuapatrick682]

if you want to get technical the label 450 HZ is also using a man made system to apply the label. a Hertz means "one event per second" but a second is a man made construct that denotes an arbitrary passage of time we have decided is important for the ability it gives us to standardize things and label them. 450 repetitions a second is great, but light moves so fast that it can travel around the world over 5 times in one second so that standard of measurement is relatively meaningless aside from allowing us to standardize and label it.

[@theshowgun5114]

I have eaten lots of blue food. Blue corn tortillas are great. They also turn pink if you if you put lime juice on them so it is definitely the anthocyanin you are talking about with the acid reaction.

[@LuxiBelle]

I hope this means we are getting a recipe for Blue Waffles.

[@lohphat]

Oh NO you di-in't!!!

[@adeleemiliabellamy4193]

Cursed. Very cursed.

[@__-tz6xx]

I have seen someone in chat of a online game mention Blue Waffles. Still don't understand what that means. Now I feel like I probably shouldn't look it up after reading the replies to your comment.

[@lohphat]

@@__-tz6xx DO NOT Google for "blue waffles". Trust me on this.

[@SanskarWagley]

JAIL

[@ryakinbarton8151]

Yo does fish count?

[@midshitfuta]

i mean the meat of the fish isnt blue usually :p

[@iliketrains0pwned]

*"BLUE MEANS SHARKS IN IT!!!"* - Randy Feltface

[@malmyster]

Found this article quite interesting. It always annoyed me that I could not have "blue" blueberry pancakes. However I have found by altering how they are cooked, does increase the longevity of blue/purple collar. For me it makes them taste better - though probably just in my mind.

[@xrhstoskati5632]

I have been looking for purple foods for over a week now. Great video. Keep it up