Blue potato, spectrum and image

Originating in South America, the blue potato contains a purple anthocyanin that turns blue when cooked - while the cooking water becomes pale green. The image above is of a thin (<1mm) slice of a raw potato. The three spectra show: the transmission of the white region (green line); the transmission of a purple region (blue/purple line) and the ratio of the two, ie, purple/white, which represents the anthocyanin pigment (red line).

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