Did you change the pan your baking them in? Did you shred the carrots on a different shredder?

Ach, don't say it was the buttermilk powder, I just picked up 3 cans for $1.99 apiece. The store was discontinuing this product...hmm, ya don't think it's because of the green carrot syndrome do ya?
I've never used the buttermilk powder before and was looking forward to not having that quart in the frig.

The batter was too alkaline, and that made the anthocyanins in the carrots turn blue. Just the same way red cabbage turns blue unless you cook it with an acid. I think the blue pigment ends up green because it combines with the yellow. I've had this happen with cranberries.
The buttermilk powder must not be as acidic as liquid buttermilk you've been using. (That's if it's the same recipe you have used before. If it's a different one, the powdered buttermilk may not be the problem; it could be a recipe that calls for too much baking soda.)
The acid ingredient has to be acidic enough to balance the alkaline baking soda. If it isn't, you have an alkaline environment, in which anthocyanin pigments can't stay red.

Wow, cool science lesson! Thanks!

I wonder if you added a little lemon juice if it would help?
Lisa

can you call them zucchini muffins ?

Hi Ladies,
I appreciate all the responses. Only after I posted my query, I should have introduced myself. I frequent the Houseplant forum regularly, but often "lurk" on this one to get ideas and learn lots as well.

Nothing has changed regarding my baking utensils or anything else. The thing that bothers me is my hubby gets requests from his co-workers for my muffins and butter-tarts. (They buy them).
The other day was the first time it was noticed they were green, when the lady asked dh "what the green things were".
If it were a zucchini muffin, that wouldn't be a problem, but they were carrot-bran with buttermilk powder.

I honestly don't know what to do except go back to using buttermilk and see if it corrects itself (which it should).
The powder is so much more convenient when I get sudden orders from his work which happens often.

Sherry

I use Kefir in place of buttermilk in my baking. I, too, got tired of keeping buttermilk but it makes baked items so much better.

Kefir is easy to make and it keeps forever in the refrigerator.

Hopefully, Grainlady will see your post as she knows much more about Kefir then I do.

Michelle

Here is a link that might be useful: Everything you ever wanted to know about Kefir

Lisa's idea of adding lemon juice is a good one. Try adding a teaspoon of either lemon juice or vinegar.

I use buttermilk powder all the time...have never had my carrots turn green.....

Linda

I'll try adding some lemon juice and see if that clears up the mystery. Kefir sounds interesting....but I've never heard of it. Is it available on Ontario?

Thanks again,
Sherry

Buttermilk freezes well. I make cottage cheese and am never sure when I'll be able to get milk from my cow keeping neighbor and since I live a good drive from a store, I often use the frozen buttermilk. I think if it works for cheese culturing, it should be fine for baking.

Sherry, I bought my kefir grains on Ebay. They ship very well with no ill effects. Kefir is very stable and it takes quite a bit to kill it. There is milk kefir, which is what you want, and then water kefir. I did not care for the water kefir but some people just love it.

Make sure you get real kefir grains and not the stuff that is sold in grocery stores as this will not reproduce.

Michelle

I baked a carrot cake last week for someone's birthday at work. This is the second time this has happened to me! It's sooooo embarrassing. I read all these posts about buttermilk. BUT . . . my carrot cake recipe has no carrot cake in it. It's got Mayo & pineapple. (the two odd ingredients. I've baked this cake many many times, but the last time I baked it, this happened too. The ONLY thing I have did different (possibly)was buy preshredded carrots. I don't remember if I used preshredded last time or if I shredded my own. It's just bizarre.

I've had my shredded carrots turn green if I shredded them too early before adding them to my batter. I just shredded some fresh carrots instead at exactly the time it was to be added to the batter. I doesn't take long for shredded carrots to turn green!

I recently had a batch of carrot cake do the same thing. I used pre-shredded matchstick carrots from the store, and I think that's what did it. I read online somewhere that if you don't peel the carrots before shredding, the green shows up in the baking. I switched back to a bag that was labeled "peeled shredded carrots" and everything went back to normal.