PIGMENTED VEGETABLES / FRUITS

PIGMENTED VEGETABLES / FRUITS

Basically, most vegetables and fruits emerge in brilliant colours.  The colouration so found is a surface feature and may not extend deep into vegetable / fruit, though there are exceptions like watermelon, Pomegranate seeds, the edible lobes of Jack fruit, the juicy filaments in Oranges, ripe flesh of mangos and so on. The shift in colour between unripe and ripe states of fruits is due to shift in pigment chemistry as a product of age or maturation. Generally ripening goes with yellowing but in coconuts even young fruits are more yellow than larger green varieties. Shift in pigment chemistry is more pronounced among fleshy edible fruits. Among Apples, there are variations in pigments due to variety than by age, as for example: Green Apples, YELLOW apples, Red streaks and deep Red. They stay without major shift in external colour in unripe / ripe states.

PIGMENTS

4 Major pigments are known in plants. These are Chlorophylls [Green], Carotenoids [Yellow, Red, Orange], Flavonoids [ Anthoxanthins, Anthocyanins [Red, Blue, Purple].Of them the Anthocyanins are water soluble. Betalains [ Red, Yellow, Purple].

ADVANTAGES

Plant pigments have evolved themselves over millions of years; they are of different values to the plants which make them and to humans who consume them. For the plant’s advantage, the attractive pigments draw attention of animals and get their seeds distributed far and wide. For humans they provide excellent protection. The protection suggested comes in the form of vitamin precursors and or as antioxidants. In recent years, antioxidants are receiving exhaustive attention from researchers and drug manufacture schemes.

ANTIOXIDANTS

As the name goes, substances which tend to ‘block’ undue oxidation [break down] of substances of cells are anti-oxidants. If breakdown is unchecked, more of substrates come under attack by oxidizing factors. Unabated oxidizing functions can trigger cancerous activity of cells and tissues. So, Antioxidants hold attention of research groups.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PIGMENTED FRUITS/ VEGETABLES

Enough if we get know how best we can make use of such vegetables and fruits which are pigmented. Wherever feasible, try to consume fresh fruits and fresh vegetables like cucumber. Cooking can partly damage pigments, especially high flame cooking. Even Cabbage leaves can be eaten fresh [uncooked], of course after thorough washing in water. Instead of draining the water upon vegetable cooking, the same could be consumed with some salt, so as to stand the benefit of pigments. People may have noticed that ‘greens’ if cooked give off pink colour in water. These are Anthocyanins. Also, some cabbages come in purple or dark purple colour. On cooking the colour is lost. Anthocyanins are water-soluble and get washed off in water. Same is true of Beetroot, giving off intense Red anthocyanins in water. Instead of draining the water, it may be consumed to stand the benefit of Antioxidant character. Carrots can be consumed raw [after thorough washing] to have the rich carotenes [precursor of Vitamin- A]. Many do not use [eat] the fruit skins; they are fibre-rich and useful in digestion [Apple /Mango].  Broccoli, Cauliflower are rich in Amino acids [protein precursors]. They too can be used for amino acid supplementation for our own protein machinery.  Pulses and legumes like bean are excellent protein sources. Wherever possible, better to consume fresh items [uncooked ones] to ensure our receiving useful antioxidants very vital for arresting tissue deterioration by ageing.

Prof. K. Raman.