Monday, Sep. 05, 1938

Boiled Potatoes

A good hearty meal of corned beef, cabbage and boiled potatoes is not only a pleasure to the palate but a pretty pill, for the vegetables are rich in Vitamin C. But not everyone who tucks into this dish is assured of firm joints and healthy blood capillaries, for Vitamin C is a delicate thing, easily destroyed by combination with oxygen or improper cooking. Last week in Nature, Physiologists A. Ho/ygaard and H. Waage Rasmussen of the University of Oslo, Norway reported the results of extensive potato-boiling. They found "16-19% more ascorbic acid [Vitamin C] left when vegetables are cooked in salt solution than when vegetables are cooked in distilled water." Reason: the salt prevents oxygen from destroying the vitamin. They also found "considerably more ascorbic acid in cooked than in raw potatoes." Reason: the ascorbic acid is partially "frozen" in raw vegetables, becomes released in the boiling process.

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