Why do green vegetables cooked with baking soda have a brighter color?
Baking soda helps maintain the vivid green because it is an alkali and therefore neutralizes the discoloring acid in the vegetable and cooking water. However, it is strongly advice against using baking soda for this purpose. It destroys vitamins (particularly vitamin C and thiamin) and by softening the hemicelluloses of the vegetable’s cell walls, gives the food a mushy texture.
