Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: John Chapman on 05/03/2009 23:54:07
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Recently I’ve got into the habit of eating packets of CO-OP own brand mixed ‘winter vegetables’. Specifically, these are bags of washed and chopped carrots, cauliflower and broccoli which I chuck in a jug with no water, place a saucer on top and bung in the microwave. They cook in their own steam and I tip them straight onto the plate with a splash of gravy.
The problem is that this makes the whole house smell like cat poo! These vegetables stink.
Recently, in an effort to get my ‘5 a day’ in one go I started adding some mushrooms and a chopped pepper to the vegetables before microwaving them. We all braced ourselves for an even worse smell but, surprisingly, this time the stench of cat poo didn’t come. So my question is this:
Why do some vegetables, which don’t smell unpleasant when raw, stink so much when cooked? And why would adding certain other vegetables deodorize the smelly ones?
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Hmm... are you sure that you haven't got a cat whose response to the smell of vegetables being microwaved is to take a crap?
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To be perfectly honest that's the reaction most people have to my cooking.
But you must have noticed the smell of cooked cabbage or brussel sprouts? There's some sort of chemical reaction going on here such as some volatile compound which is being created as the vegetables are being cooked. Any ideas?
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I don't ever notice cat poo when I steam or boil veggies, but then I don't microwave them and always use water or stock.
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Oh yes, when I cook brussel sprouts or cabbage everyone else wants to leave the house.
Are you sure it is CO-OP brand, not PO-OP brand?
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Oh yes, when I cook brussel sprouts or cabbage everyone else wants to leave the house.
Are you sure it is CO-OP brand, not PO-OP brand?
LOL - it's all in the branding
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Begs an answer to the OBVIOUS question:
How much time do you spend smelling cat poo [???]
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Are you sure this bag of veggy contains only cauli, broc & carrot? Has someone 'spiked' your bag of veggies with, say a piece of, ermmm Cat poo?
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.whatheck.com%2Fuploaded_images%2Fcat-pooping-toilet-trained-717556.jpg&hash=ab00787a5c81850b4242706a483d1dcd)
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I can't help wonder if its not simply the container you are using to cook them in the microwave with....
Perhaps the container is not microwave safe in that maybe, it is breaking down in the cooking process?
That can cause some rather stinky cooking.
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Perhaps it's chemicals in the plastic bag containing the vegetables with the water that might have started to go off then might smeall of cat's "poo"
Why not rinse the vegetables before you cook and eat them to remove any tasteless odours.
I have two cats and have never had that problem (yet)
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But you must have noticed the smell of cooked cabbage or brussel sprouts? There's some sort of chemical reaction going on here such as some volatile compound which is being created as the vegetables are being cooked. Any ideas?
I've noticed this John Chapman! [:)]
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Although I am not sure about it smelling like cat poo! [xx(]
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Hi Chem4Me
Brilliant. But as usual it's you and me (and in this case Karsten as well) against the rest of the scientific establishment. We are the vanguard of science. At the cutting edge of knowledge. They may poopoo us now but they'll be laughing on the otherside of their faces when we receive the Nobel Prize for recognition of shitty smelling vegetables. [;D]
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When cabbage is cooked, the sulphur that it contains actually multiplies! The longer it’s cooked, the more it multiplies. It is this sulfer smell that causes some to wrinkle their nose.
http://www.successful-diet-cabbage-soup.com/cabbage-cooking.html
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Wahay! The nobel prize is in the bag!
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Indeed it is Sir! [:)]
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Have you checked the microwave? Perhaps some old food has splattered on the roof and gone off? Or in the gaps where the plate sits and rotates?
Are you not supposed to add a small amount of water when microwave steaming though - I usually put in a tablespoon or so, just to get the steam going, otherwise there's not much steam just from the veggies alone. perhaps thats a cause - poo is, after all, whats left after all the water and nutrients have been taken from food, mixed in with a good dose of bacteria I admit. But lack of water is known to make things smell - think of bad breath from a dry mouth.
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Please don't try and steal the Nobel prize away fishytails. [:)]
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Some interesting points, there, fishytails. But I think 'no' on each count. I remember a similar smell at most Christmases from the sprouts bubbling away on the cooker hob, even as a child.
Would it be possible to have bacteria living in a microwave? Surely the microwave radiation would eventually sterilize any living thing within it. I know you get 'dead spots' in ovens caused by the interaction of standing waves but presumably these are small or the oven would not work?
BTW, cooking without water works surprisingly well. They are always extremely moist and I generally tip away about a tablesoon of water from the bottom of the jug when finished.
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Would it be possible to have bacteria living in a microwave? Surely the microwave radiation would eventually sterilize any living thing within it. I know you get 'dead spots' in ovens caused by the interaction of standing waves but presumably these are small or the oven would not work?
The Electric Field Strength right next to the walls is almost zero! But you don't put the food there. I imagine the bacteria love it there - it may never get very hot unless it's a combination oven.
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But food that was splattered there (technical term) would therefore not get zapped (another technical term).
So, if that can be discounted ... perhaps your cat has poo that smells of vegetables? [:D]
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Thanks fishytails
So now that you've established that my microwave oven is rancid with rotten old food, what about the second part of my question:
Why does adding other vegetables to the mix (and I have recently found that it's the peppers that do it) deodorise the smelly veg?
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It neutralises the sulphur compounds?
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Aha! That sounds interesting. How's that work, then?
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Well, do you believe this?
A piece of charcoal in the pot will neutralize the odor given out by the cabbage, boiled in the ordinary way.
http://chestofbooks.com/food/recipes/Clayton-Quaker-Cook-Book/Vegetables.html
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Charcoal in the pot with the vegetables? Wow. I'd like to try that.
I once had the mechanism of the deodorizing power of charcoal pegged as a question for this forum. But I'd forgotten all about it. So...
How's that work, then? And can the mechanism transfer to peppers?
Any ideas, Chem?
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Charcoal absorbs things like a sponge.
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One teaspoon of charcoal has a surface area of more than 10,000 square feet.
www.oehc.ca/activated-charcoal.rtf
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That is quite interesting although the evidence isn't supported very scientifically and it doesn't explain the mechanism. I wonder if that's true about one teaspoon having a surface area of more than 10,000 square feet.
Still, it doesn't explain how peppers absorb the smell. I suspect they may in some way be neutralising or counteracting the smell rather than absorbing it. Chemistry rather than physics.
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I'm still confused as to why the veg would smell differently when steamed in the microwave than when steamed over a pan. I assume they taste the same? I generally only microwave-steam potatoes, broccoli and green beans, and I've never tried it with frozen veg, or even pre-packed pre-prepared veg, so perhaps I'm missing out?
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I've just wiki'd activated charcoal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activated_carbon) and, in a nutshell, it says that charcoal absorbant properties work using Van der Waals forces throughout it's incredibly large surface area. It says that "one gram of activated carbon has a surface area of approximately 500 m²". I can't be arsed calculating a direct comparison with the "one teaspoonful & 10,000 square feet" that Chem4Me found but, if anything, the wiki reference sounds even bigger.
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Hi fishytails
Sorry if that's not clear. The smell is exactly the same regardless of how it is cooked. Now I understand why you suggested it might be caused by old food in an unclean microwave.