The oddest breakfast

Just a simple recipe for a colorful omelette!

Safe­ty pre­cau­tions

Warn­ing! Only un­der adult su­per­vi­sion.

Equip­ment

  • pur­ple basil;
  • hot wa­ter;
  • 2 chick­en eggs;
  • lemon juice;
  • fry­ing pan.

Step-by-step in­struc­tions

Dice some pur­ple basil. Add hot wa­ter and leave for 5 min­utes. Sep­a­rate some egg whites from the yolks and di­vide the whites into two por­tions. Mix the basil ex­tract with both por­tions of egg white – they turn green! Add some lemon juice to one por­tion – when stirred, it turns pur­ple! Pour the whites into a hot pan, add the yolks, and salt to taste. Your col­or­ful omelette will be ready in just a few min­utes!

Process de­scrip­tion

Pur­ple basil con­tains an­tho­cyanins. Their struc­ture and col­or de­pend on the acid­i­ty of the medi­um they’re in. Egg whites are al­ka­line, so the an­tho­cyanins’ struc­ture changes in such a way that they turn green. Lemon juice makes the medi­um acidic, and the an­tho­cyanins turn pur­ple. Sci­ence even adds va­ri­ety to a sim­ple break­fast!

A sim­i­lar ex­per­i­ment is in­clud­ed in the “Chem­istry of plants” set from the MEL Chem­istry sub­scrip­tion.

Try it