Vegetables are plants or parts of plants that are used as food. The bright colours of many vegetables contribute much to their appeal. The colour result from the various pigments contained in their tissues.
Vegetable Pigments
Water insoluble: Carotenoids, Chlorophyll
Water soluble: Anthocyanins, Betalins, Anthoxanthins
Chlorophyll: The green pigments of leaves and stems are usually held close to the cell wall in small bodies called chloroplasts along with some carotenes and xanthophylls.
Carotenoids: These are groups of yellow, orange, rat and fat soluble pigments widely distributed in nature. Depth of carotene does not always indicate Vitamin A value as many carotenoid pigments cannot be converted to vitamin A.
Water soluble pigments
Anthocyanins: It has cyanidin with attached sugars. Cherries, red apples, various berries, blue and red grapes, Pomegranates and currants, Radishes and sweet potatoes achieve their colour appeal because of predominance of anthocyanins. Anthocyanins present in brinjal is water- insoluble in nature. Anthocyanidins are anthocyanins without sugar in their structure e.g., delphinidin.
Betalains: Betacyanins and betaxanthins are together known as betalins. High ratio of betacyanin to betaxanthin lead to violet, medium to red and low to orange tuber colours. The water-soluble pigments present within the betacyanin group are betanidin and betanin. A somewhat yellow pigment is contributed by the betaxanthins.
Anthoxanthins: They are colourless or pale-yellow pigments (depending on the pH) closely related to anthocyanins. They are water-soluble occurring in the vacuoles of the plant cells. Anthoxanthins give colour to cauliflower, onions and spinach or other leafy vegetables (In green leafy vegetables, the colour is masked by chlorophyll).
Pigments in Foods:
Red colour:
Lycopene -Tomato, Watermelon, Carrot, Capsanthin Capsicum Chilli
Beta cyanin- Beet root,
Orange:
Beta carotene- Carrot, Pumpkin, Muskmelon, Sweetpotato
Blue/purple:
Anthocyanin- Brinjal, purple tomato
Yellow:
Lutein- Kale, Yellow corn
Green
Chlorophyll- Leafy greens, broccoli, Spinach, Cabbage, Asparagus etc.
Black:
Anthocyanin- Black carrot
