#gardenindicators has been around a while now. I’ve certainly learned a lot from it. @crocodilechemi1.bsky.social and @AlchemistAngus (not on Bsky) have put a huge amount of effort into reviewing some key uses of anthocyanins in teaching pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a... I can’t thank them enough!
As we know from Vogue, 2026 is the year of Cabbage.
My colleague Marko and I devised this simple electrolysis demo using anthocyanins in cabbage to explore how we make chlorine and lye from salt.
Check out the open access resource on GCTLC.
gctlc.org/practical-an...
#gardenindicators
Just been to the supermarket and spotted some ready prepared red cabbage indicator #Gardenindicators
Seasonal #Gardenindicators time. The bramble whiskies are ready! There’s a sweet one (made from Grants) and a more fiery one (made from famous grouse). Both tasty 🙂
#gardenindicators in action
#gardenindicators in action: testing to see if our student’s soap is safe for the skin
#gardenindicators in print:
How to find acids with flowers: Robert Boyle’s ‘syrrup of violets’ and the chemistry of color indicators
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
It isn’t all #Gardenindicators in our lab, we’ve been making our own phenolphthalein’s too. They are different colours and pleasingly, all worked well in an acid/base titration. #Chemsky
Further tinned fruit results today, mixing the juice from tinned peaches with bramble extract gives a beautiful purple colour! The left glass contains a mixture of bramble juice, tinned peach juice and water. The right glass contains diluted bramble juice. #Gardenindicators #Chemsky
Hibiscus tea samples. Left to Right: freshly brewed tea, tea with pineapple juice from a tin can, tea with acetic acid and tea with dilute HCl. The purple colour likely comes from complexation of the tin ions with anthocyanins from the hibiscus flowers.
@manhattanscientist.bsky.social has inspired a nice #Gardenindicators experiment! The samples below, all contain Hibiscus tea. L to R, tea, tea with pineapple juice from a tin can, tea with acetic acid and tea with HCl. Those tin ions make a lovely purple complex with anthocyanins!
12 well plate with different coloured liquids
12 well plate with different coloured liquids
Spontaneous breakfast-inspired mini #GardenIndicators #pH investigation!
Any ideas what I’ve used?!?!
#ScienceIsEverywhere #DrJoScience #BeCurious
2 Kilner jars with whisky, sugar and brambles. These will be left for 3 months before the berries are filtered out.
This seems to becoming a tradition for the end of August. Bramble whisky round 2 now in progress. A double batch this time as well. #Gardenindicators I look forward to the end of November when they will be ready. One jar contains famous grouse, the other is grant’s triple wood blend. #chemsky
Plenty of beautiful
Hydrangeas around St Andrews now. Some will hopefully get used as #Gardenindicators in teaching next year.
One for any #Gardenindicators fans.
It has been a while, but another #Gardenindicators video is now ready. This one shows a cheap and cheerful way to extract blackberries, works for raspberries too. youtu.be/HIV1Tgpa1-g?...
Testing the pH colour changes of a viola petal. Pink in acid, purple/ blue at neutral pH, then a gorgeous teal at around pH 8 and into the yellows above pH 12
Here’s the pH profile of a small purple viola petal used as a cake decoration. I resisted the temptation to eat it, instead it gave itself to science! #GardenIndicators
A colourful and quick experiment with tinned pineapple juice youtu.be/n62zByID52I?si… #Gardenindicators #Snackindicators #Chemsky
I got a nice #Gardenindicators gift this week from
@AlchemistAngus. A can of crushed pineapple! The anthocyanins in blackberry extract can be used to detect dissolved tin(II) ions in the pineapple juice. The anthocyanin/tin complexes give a lovely purple colour! #Chemsky
A Christmas tradition and the 3rd #GardenIndicators Christmas edition - Red Cabbage! Such a wonderful range of colours at different pH. Merry Christmas everyone 🎄
The second #GardenIndicators Christmas edition shows the pH profile of poinsettia bracts. Just look at the cheeky pink and purple in the RGB plot!
A collage of three photos showing some cranberries. The reaction of the extract at different pH ranging from reds, pinks, purple and yellow. Then a continuous pH profile from pH 1-14 showing how the colours change with the neutralisation reaction of acidified extract
#GardenIndicators Christmas edition! I bought the cranberries purely for the science and now I’ve got to make cranberry sauce from scratch! Here’s their pH profile and the RGB plot of the acidified extract neutralised with 0.1M NaOH, then adding 2M NaOH
Who would think red cabbage could be used as an indicator! Check out these beautiful range of colours produced by some of our Year 7 students. #scienceisfun #gardenindicators
In an earlier post I showed a range of colourful #Gardenindicators oxalis samples. bsky.app/profile/iain... Much later than I intended, I have finally managed to get the video version on YouTube! youtu.be/JoefItjibOY?....
Bramble whisky. I made this by soaking brambles (blackberries) in a bottle of whisky and added some sugar. I then let the mixture soak for just over 3 months.
I tried a different type of #Gardenindicators experiment earlier this year. I started making bramble whisky in the late summer, this is the finished version after 3 months. Nice colour, quite a sweet taste, a bit like sloe gin. #Chemsky
The library is loaning me fashion forecasts we will use in class to match colors.
Finally I can write a #gardenindicators dyeing lab called "Back to the Fuscia"
At this time of year the number of available #Gardenindicators is more limited. However, we’ve been making some classic pH indicators too. Interesting range of colours in the methyl phenolphthalein series #Chemsky youtu.be/lcHvVRApqaQ?...
Infographic showing the different structures of the anthocyanin compounds in poinsettia plants at different pH values.
Day 2 of #ChemAdvent24 looks at how a colour-changing indicator can be made from festive poinsettia leaves.
This is possible because they contain anthocyanins, which undergo structural changes in acidic and alkaline solutions.
#GardenIndicators #ChemSky 🧪
2 years ago, @AlchemistAngus grew some purple carrots in our teaching lab. Remarkably, the dried carrots are still providing extracts 2 years later! Colourful #Gardenindicators results here youtu.be/0oNgtucj2Ak?...
