Question

If you are provided with some vegetables to cook , you generally add salt to vegetables during cooking. After adding salt, vegetables release water. Which mechanism is responsible for this? PLZ GIVE CORRECT ANSWER

Answer 1

Answer:

Exosmosis is the process of movement of water molecules from the inner portions of the cell outside, where the solution is hypertonic due to the presence of salt and thus by adding salt to the vegetables it releases water.

The same principle is used in pickling, where the mangoes (or any other fruit) are soaked in a hypertonic solution of salt.

Answer 2

Answer:

The principle is Osmosis. The skin acts as a semi permeable membrane and water has a tendency to flow from lower salt concentration to higher salt concentration to equalise the salt concentrations.

Thus, when you add salt, the concentration outside goes high and water will start releasing out, to balance the salt strength inside the vegetable and outside.

This is also the principle used in (Indian) cooking where food is ‘salted’ and stored for a period. This salt will rupture the bacterial cells when they come in its contact and hence the food will not spoil.

The exact opposite of osmosis is the Reverse Osmosis where we use pressure to reverse this natural effect and push water from more concentrated medium to less concentrated medium and generate the permeate and reject in water treatment by membrane process.