Periodic tables, Bunsen burners and lab coats aside, Shirley Corriher, biochemist, chef and cookbook author, says knowing a little chemistry goes a long way in the kitchen. Cooking is essentially chemical reactions, she explains. Take chopped red cabbage, for example. Put it in a hot pan and the heat breaks down the red anthocyanine pigment, changing it from an acid to alkaline and causing it to turn blue. Add vinegar to increase the acidity, and the cabbage is red again. Baking soda will change it back to blue.
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