[jaanu_2721]

why does turmeric turn red in lemon?

plz give a scientific reason to this question.. its urgent..Drowning

[meera2503]

why does turmeric turn red in lemon?

plz give a scientific reason to this question.. its urgent..Drowning

HI,

Can u tell us why???????

[Sumathy]

Hi,

Turmeric should turn red in lime and not lemon. Lime is commonly called as 'sunnambu' in tamil and is basic in nature (pH more than 7 is called basic). Turmeric will turn red in basic medium.

So, What is this 'urgency' about.

Cheers,

Sumathy

[Shanvy]

sumathy,

Looks like jaanu has some quiz or so mething...there is one more question about ozone hole in atlantic...

[jaanu_2721]

s shanvy can u give me detail reason?plzzzzzzzzz?Drowning

[Nandshyam]

hey jaanu..

very simple ma.. BTW first thanks for reminding my chemistry quizzes

Lemon has citric acid. So thus When comes in contact due to the acidic conditions, tumeric changes its color from yellow to red :)

Do you need further explanation.. let me know...

Sumathy.. neenga solrathu different.. There are different types of lime, lemon..

Burnt lime stones are called sunnambhu :)

[jaanu_2721]

s i need in detail and reasoning to it also..Drowning

[Nandshyam]

Ok here you go.. before you drown again ;)



Turmeric is a reddish-yellow rhizome. Now how did it get these colors? The more prominent yellow color is due to the presence of the xanthophyll pigment, while the reddish-orange color comes from carotene pigment.

The phytochemicals in Lemon are : Neral, Geranial, Limonene, Nerol, Geraniol, Terpineol, Caryophyllene, Curcumene, Isovalerianic acid, Eupafolin, Hispidulin, Eupatorin, Salvigenin, Apigenin, Luteolin, Geraniol, Flavonoids. There are many active curcumene compounds and when these stems are dried & powdered for our usage, their concentration increases. Now during this experiment, when this powder is dissolved in water and a pinch of lime is added to it, the organic acids are neutralised by alkaline lime. Thus, as a result, the yellow xanthophyll is suppressed and orange-red carotene pigment becomes more prominent. So what you see turmeric turning red.

Hope this helps :)

[jaanu_2721]

thats really helpful nandu

[Sumathy]

Hi Nandu,

Hmm, Some confusion here. Turmeric (actually curcumin) turns red in basic medium and not in acidic medium. This is the basis of the turmeric indicator, is it not? "Turmeric contains a yellow pigment called curcumin that is yellow at pH 7.4 and orange to red at pH 8.6". You can get more information on the net if you google.

For instance, for arathi, we add turmeric and chunnambu (the edible one) to get red colour. Correct me if am wrong.

Cheers,

Sumathy