COPPER CHLORIDE CRYSTALLIZATION – A TOOL FOR QUALITY EVALUATION?

Copper chloride crystallization is a way frequently gone by alternative agriculturists in order to testify the quality of their products.
The method is based on the fact that a solution of copper chloride in water gives rise to characteristically shaped crystal aggregates.
This crystal pattern – so it is claimed – will be influenced by pressed sap or extracts of plant material of different origin in a specific manner, thus revealing differences in quality.
The pattern resulting from copper chloride crystallization is no mysterious phenomenon but can be explained by well-defined interactions between copper chloride and a great number of plant constituents.
The method is very sensitive and therefore very susceptible to disturbance by often hard-to-control factors (e.g. clean and undamaged glass surface, horizontal levelling, strict control of temperature and humidity, absence of air-convection and dust) resulting in a high variation.
Recent development in electrophoresis has brought up micromethods for the quick separation of proteins and peptides, which for the future seem to show more promising possibilities for the discrimination of plant samples than copper chloride crystallization.

Symposium on Quality of Vegetables

E. Schwerdtfeger

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1984.163.3