Best friends tried an old wives’ tale involving red cabbage and say they were shocked to discover it worked. Sleep trainer Jemima Rose Nicholls, 27, and Lily Stewart, 27, a nanny, are both pregnant and due in the last week of November.
The pair, who have been best pals for over a decade, decided to try the quirky gender test after Jemima’s grandmother suggested it. It involves mixing urine with boiled red cabbage to predict the baby’s gender.
Jemima said “My granny told me that back in the day, they would pee on a red cabbage to predict the baby’s sex. Lily and I thought we’d try it for fun—and to our shock, it worked!”
Jemima’s water turned purple, indicating a girl, while Lily’s turned red, suggesting she’s having a boy. The friends, from London, had already been told the genders of their babies prior to doing the test.
Jemima said: “We couldn’t believe it. We didn’t expect it to work, but it did!” Now that the cabbage test has proven accurate, the duo plan to try more old wives’ tales.
Jemima said: “We’re excited to see if these old methods really work.”
The red cabbage pregnancy test is an old wives’ tale that suggests you can determine the gender of an unborn baby using the juice of boiled red cabbage. According to the tale, here’s how it works:
- Boil red cabbage in water until the water turns deep purple.
- Let the water cool and then mix equal parts of the cabbage water with the pregnant woman’s urine.
- Observe the colour change:
- If the mixture turns pink/red, it is said to indicate a boy.
- If the mixture turns purple, it supposedly means the baby is a girl.
This test has no scientific basis or reliability. The colour change is thought to occur due to the pH balance in urine, which can fluctuate for many reasons, including diet and hydration. The outcome of the test is coincidental and has nothing to do with the baby’s gender.
In short, it’s a fun and harmless way to try guessing the baby’s gender, but there’s no evidence that it works.