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Out of the blue I washed some apples and served them on a hand-carved soapstone platter (see photo). When we began to eat them, we noticed the apples had left blue stains on the plate. What could have caused this? Tony Wills, London, UK
(no votes)

Asked by Moderator
on 2011-01-19 14:48:39

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Categories: Domestic Science.

Tags: plants, physics, colour, Biology, apple, stain.

2 answer(s)

Reply	Jon-Richfield says: I don't know. I suspect that the apples had been treated with methylene blue to protect them from fungi in storage. It is not easy to wash the last residues from fruit, so if you are worried about the stuff (which I personally would not be) then you could try soaking your apples for a short while in water containing a lot of used tealeaves or teabags, or wash them with leftover tea from a teapot. I would expect such materials to absorb the dye. (no votes) Tags: plants, physics, colour, Biology, apple, stain.
	posted on 2011-01-20 18:26:43 \| Report abuse

Reply	tbrucenyc says: See the photo here: http://www.last-word.com/content_handling/show_tree/tree_id/4036.html (no votes) Tags: plants, physics, colour, Biology, apple, stain.
	posted on 2011-04-12 22:19:12 \| Report abuse

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