red veggies [Food/Vendor]

2008 May 4
So who knows anything about red veggies. I'm sure I could google this, but that's not as fun :-)

I mean red cabbage, red onions, and red potatoes (not the ones that are commonly sold like the red-skinned white ones, but the ones that are red inside). And I'm sure others - like zebra-striped red-and-white raddishes and son on.

I've always believed for some reason that the red is from a naturally-occurring iodine. This belief was somewhat proven when I tried a few years ago to make sauerkraut from red cabbage - it would not spontaneously ferment, it just rotted and stunk the high heavens. Iodine of course is an anti-bacterial agent so would kill the naturally occurring bacteria on cabbage which allow it to spontaneously ferment into sauerkraut.

2008 May 4
I believe red veg are so due to a pigment called anthocyanin (like chlorophyl makes stuff green)- not sure if it's an iodine or not...