Purple cabbage shows up in supermarkets: many take photos, few buy

Purple eggplants, purple cabbage and purple sweet potatoes are vegetables people eat often, but have you ever eaten purple cauliflower or purple cabbage? Yesterday, the reporter saw in the vegetable section of the Carrefour Yuanyang store that a variety of purple vegetables, including cauliflower and cabbage, had quietly been put on the shelves, and at a glance they added quite a bit of color to the red-and-green vegetable section. The reporter learned that these purple vegetables had all just been flown in from Yunnan and other places, and that their novel appearance made their "price tag" several times higher than ordinary cabbage and cauliflower, at about 8 to 10 yuan per plant.

Purple vegetables all come from out of town

"I've seen white cauliflower and green broccoli, but this is the first time I've seen purple cauliflower!" Yesterday afternoon, Ms. Li and her family of four were gathered around a shelf looking at it, and on approaching, it turned out to be freshly marketed purple cauliflower. Because they had never seen it before, Ms. Li's two sons acted as if they had discovered a new continent, holding a box of packaged cauliflower in both hands and looking at it left and right, reluctant to put it down.

"Look, there's purple cabbage here too!" The sharp-eyed younger son quickly spotted the "new prey" on the same shelf, but because he was not tall enough, he could only lean against the shelf and stand on tiptoe to reach for it. The curious Ms. Li also hurriedly took out her phone from her bag, and while taking photos, searched online for relevant information about these vegetables, and indeed found some useful information.

According to the information, purple cauliflower originated along the Mediterranean coast of Europe and is a variety of broccoli; it was successfully cultivated in 2009 by farmer Ni Qingkun. This purple cabbage is scientifically named "Violet", and it is said that the nutrients it contains are several times those of other Chinese cabbages, and that it is rich in anthocyanins and carotene; besides being cooked and eaten, it is even more suitable for eating raw. Yao Weiqiang, the inventor of "Violet", also once appeared on CCTV, because he filled the gap in China's colored cabbage cultivation field and became the first person to grow purple cabbage.

The reporter visited a number of local supermarkets and vegetable markets and found that, apart from the Carrefour Yuanyang store, currently only the Lihe blt supermarket sells the above two products, among which purple cauliflower costs 15.8 yuan per jin, with its place of origin being Kunming, and "Violet" cabbage costs 12.9 yuan per jin, with its place of origin being Qingdao. The Carrefour Yuanyang store sells them by the plant and by the box, with both priced between 7.9 yuan and 9.9 yuan, and their place of origin is also Yunnan.

Residents worry that colored vegetables may be harmful to health

The purple vegetables have a novel appearance, so by rights they should be quite popular with residents, but according to staff at the Carrefour Yuanyang store, these two kinds of purple vegetables were put on the shelves this Monday, yet sales have not been very good. "These vegetables were placed here two days ago, and up to today almost none have been sold; many people are just curious, take photos and leave." The salesperson said while shaking her head.

Mr. Feng, who was choosing vegetables in the supermarket, said that he rather likes buying some colored vegetables from time to time as cooking ingredients for his family. "Mainly because the nutritional value is high, and for the children at home, they also like this kind of novel thing more, and are interested in buying one to try something new." Mr. Feng said.

There are also residents who take a wait-and-see attitude toward colored vegetables. "On the one hand it's because the price is high, and on the other hand I'm also worried about the safety of these new varieties. For example, whether they are dyed, whether they are genetically modified, I can't figure it out." Said Aunt Zhou, a resident.

Faced with residents' questions, relevant experts said that although colored vegetables are increasingly varied nowadays, most use hybrid breeding or artificial post-processing techniques, and are not genetically modified. As for the purple color, it is actually the color shown by anthocyanins; anthocyanins are a very strong antioxidant and have the effect of resisting skin aging and improving human immunity. Experts suggest that, faced with the wide variety of colored vegetables on the market, consumers can selectively try something new. However, the nutritional composition is not too different from ordinary vegetables, and the health benefits to the human body are not as obvious as imagined. Consumers are advised to treat colored vegetables rationally and not blindly believe the eating effects promoted by merchants. (Zhongshan Business Daily)