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| Saturday, August 26, 2006 |
| Kumkum.. |
Continuing with my experimentations in the kitchenations, here's what I've been occupied with on and off for the past week, when I wasn't busy running to and from college and studying for tests and things..
Kumkum from Pasupu (a.k.a manjal, haldi, turmeric )
Mom used to tell me that the juice of a lemon would convert the yellow turmeric into red kumkum, when given enough time. Man, have I tried that experiment often enough! I figured I always picked the wrong variety of lemon, until recently when somebody at the lab embarked upon the same quest.
They added calcium hydroxide, I think, and the whole thing turned a beautiful pink and showed up clearly against the white filter-paper they were using.
So well, it looks like you've got to add lime not lemon. Slaked lime, that is!
Came home, I, and scoured the net for the how, why and wherefore. Unfortunately, although I did find out that hundreds of papers are published each year on the therapeutic/antibacterial/anticancer properties of turmeric, google churned out very little on how to convert turmeric to kumkum. You know me. I went ahead and experimented :)
#1 Turmeric and vinegar.
#2 Turmeric and Pepsi (acidic..)
#3 Turmeric and Baking powder
#4 Turmeric and Eno Fruit Salt (TM)
#5 Turmeric and ghee
You must be wondering where the last combo popped out from all of a sudden. The thing is, I remember having observed red kumkum on the plate in which the ghee-bottle is placed, more than once. I figured that since the turmeric bottle is usually right next to the ghee, some of it may have fallen into the plate, and some kind of reaction might have occured, though I couldn't figure what.
So any guesses on which one gave me nice red, fragrant kumkum?
Surprise.. it was #4. No amount of baking powder would turn that batch any more than the golden yellow of pasupu, and I really couldn't figure why.
The very next morning, of course, while I was out at college, the kitchen and every used utensil in it got cleaned, leaving me with nothing to show off about.
Tried replicating results a coupla days later. Surprise again, this time none of them worked! I got back to WikiWisdom this time, and discovered that the compound curcumin that gives turmeric its colour, exists in two tautomeric forms, namely the keto- and enol- forms, with the keto- phase being preferred, it said, in the solid or dry state. So assuming that it had something to do with why it turned red the first time (maybe I'd added less water then?) I decided to evaporate some of the water out of this.
Talk about serendipity.. it's not really the Eno or the Baking powder that really makes the difference.. it's heat. Works just as well with either of them. Add calcium carbonate or bicarb to turmeric, with a little water of course, and heat. Voila, kumkum.
So why did Eno powder turn it red the first time 'round? I've got a feeling it's cos of the amount of water I added, which was very little, and the fact that the citric acid present (the ingredients label said citric acid, calcium carbonate, calcium bicarbonate) reacted with the bases and probably produced some heat. That, and the fact that I'd placed the sample plate right next to my laptop cos I was netting as usual. A comment on the sad state of this piece of hardware, it generates enough heat to power the reaction.
So, things to be done now:
#1 figure out the chemical reaction that governs this (or find it, either way suits me fine)
#2 determine the minimum temperature required for the reaction to happen. If not the absolute temperature, then at least the relative one (you know, like 'water bath', 'direct flame', 'laptop heat' etc..)
Right folks, I've got to split now. News of the day - I'm cooking dinner for the dad and me. This probably deserves an entry of its own. Coming up next, my Maiden Dinner. Made-in Kitchen.
forgive me the pun ;) |
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gaaah! green!!!!! lol, talk about overdoses of the colour!!!! hehe.
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gaaah! green!!!!! lol, talk about overdoses of the colour!!!! hehe.