Comments on: Why do blueberries turn green in muffins

By: Karen

Karen — Sun, 12 Oct 2025 03:24:07 +0000

I'm a bit late to the party here, but a question... I am on a low acid diet because of Gerd, so I consume mainly alkaline foods. I really love blueberries, but they are high in acid, so am I right in thinking that if mixed in a muffin with almond flour/meal and baking soda, they will alkalise the berries so I can eat them? Or would they have to be soaked in something like almond milk first? If the muffins turn green, does that mean the berries have been alkalised? Love for an answer to this.

By: Janice

Janice — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 14:57:02 +0000

In reply to Mark. Hi Mark, That's really interesting. Have you tried buying a new package of baking powder or using a different brand? Because if the blueberries are suddenly turning green, it really is an indicator the pH of the cake batter is now higher (more basic) than it was before. Perhaps the baking powder formulation has changed, although I'd expect the product manufacturer to put more acid than baking soda in the formula to drive the reaction forward when the time comes...

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 31 Jul 2022 19:54:32 +0000

I make a blueberry cake. The recipe calls for 2 tsps of baking powder and not baking soda. The last few years since I have been making it, it turns green. It never use to happen before. I use the same amount of baking powder that I use to use. So, why is the blueberry cake turning green?

By: x

Fri, 07 May 2021 22:10:03 +0000

Lemon should help, I assume, vinegar for a cake might be too harsh. Not?

By: Chris

Chris — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 15:41:05 +0000

This is lovely. I appreciate the detail and specifics, as I had recently started baking blueberry muffins and observed a rich red color, wondering what caused it. This post helped me understand what's going on, and beyond that, helped me understand how to adjust ingredients in the future when I start developing my own recipes. I have a scientific, analytical mindset, and love being able to use the knowledge I've gained from this post to use actual science in my cooking.

Thank you for this post and all its detail. More like this, please!

By: Annie

Annie — Sat, 26 Oct 2019 15:35:44 +0000

Thanks for the information, I had the same thing happen to my white raspberry cake where there were small specs of blue. It certainly wasn't mold and I was afraid to serve it. Was this the same reasoning?

By: Heidi

Heidi — Sat, 02 Feb 2019 23:40:42 +0000

I made muffins some with blueberries and some with only chocolate chips and they all turned green! But not just near the blueberries, the whole muffin! I used almond meal, walnuts, and spices, yes there was baking soda in the batter-but I have made a similar recipe in the past with only chocolate chips and they were a normal color. Could the blueberry "essence" pass through the air and into the muffins without blueberries? Or could the muffin tin turn them green? It was so weird, I threw them out even though they tasted normal.

By: John Stois

John Stois — Sat, 26 Nov 2016 22:48:28 +0000

Does the same color change happen with pumpkin for those reasons? My pumpkin pie turned a shade of green .It was pumpkin color when i put it in the oven but turned a shade of green when I pulled it out. I almost threw it out but i tried a taste and it was delicious.

By: Janice

Janice — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 04:07:26 +0000

In reply to Dave. Hi Dave, Cyanide is not at all the same as anthocyanins, and the anthocyanins found in blueberries certainly won't kill you (I think the human body just metabolizes and excretes them). No worries!

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 09 Aug 2016 10:37:18 +0000

So, does it kill you if you eat it? I mean.. I don't want to have cyanide in my cake.