Ask Evan: Why Do My Garden Fresh Green Beans Turn My Cooking Water Pink?

Every week I answer a question from a Good Food listener. You can email me a question, leave one on Facebook or add one in the comments section here. This week’s came from Jen:

My husband and I just picked some green beans from the garden and decided to blanch them for dinner. Yum. We noticed after cooking them, the water was pink. What’s up with that?

This one stumped me, so I sent a tweet to food scientist Harold McGee and received the following response:

Guess: initial browning reaction in residues; fresh-cut mushrooms go pink->red->brown.

Stay tuned as we investigate this one. Has anyone else experienced this?