EFFECT OF VARIOUS HOME PRACTICES ON ASCORBIC ACED CONTENT OF POTATOES¹

Abstract

This study was undertaken in order to determine how the ascorbic acid content of potatoes was affected by different home procedures. There are numerous reports in the literature concerning the ascorbic acid content of potatoes and several that deal with the effects of advance preparation, of cooking, and of holding the cooked product on the amounts of ascorbic acid present. No attempt has been made here to review all the articles that have been published on these subjects.Values for the ascorbic acid content of potatoes reported by Bessey (1938b), Harris andOlliver (1942), andChappell (1940) show that the amount found depends to a great extent upon whether the potatoes under examination have been freshly dug or whether they have been stored. Clagett and Tottingham (1941) studied the ascorbic acid content of different varieties of potatoes$ Chippewa potatoes which had been in cold storage for 12 to 14 weeks after harvesting contained from 7.6 to 8.5 milligrams per 100 grams, while Cobbler potatoes under the same storage conditions contained from 9.6 to 13.5 milligrams per 100 grams. Reedman and McHenry (1938) obtained values of 31.4 and 20.7 milligrams per 100 grams for Irish Cobbler potatoes which had been stored six weeks and five months, respectively.A few studies have been made on the effect of advance preparation on the ascorbic acid content of potatoes. Wachholder, Heidinger, Grieben, and Kohler (1937-1938) reported a loss of 25 per cent in the ascorbic acid content of peeled potatoes which were boiled in salted water and a loss of 26 per cent in one instance when peeled potatoes were allowed to stand for 24 hours in water before boiling. Richardson and Mayfield (1943) found that, while potatoes which had been soaked in salt water for four hours contained more ascorbic acid after boiling and after cooking in a pressure saucepan than those which had not been soaked, potatoes which were alIowed to stand in fresh' water showed greater losses when cooked. Negligible losses in the ascorbic acid content of potatoes which had been peeled, cut in pieces, and soaked in water for 24 hours, were reported by Lauersen and Orth (1942).There is a wide range not only in the values reported for the ascorbic acid content of potatoes cooked by different procedures but even in the amounts of change in the ascorbic acid content produced by one cooking method. Results of the effect of baking show the greatest variation. Esselen, Lyons, and Fellers (1942) found an average loss of 49 per cent in the ascorbic acid content when eight potatoes of each of eight varieties ' Work undertaken aa part of the National Cooperative Experiment Station Project on ' Conservation of Nutritive Values of Foods. ' ' 72 EFFECT HOME -PRACTICES ON ASCORBIC ACID CONTENT POTATOES 73were baked. Losses ranging from 19 to 59 per cent were reported by Olliver (1941) while Richardson, Davis, and Mayfield (1937) obtained a @in of 41 per cent and a loss of two per cent for two varieties of potatoes. Rolf (1940) baked Irish Cobbler potatoes to an internal tempe...

EFFECT OF CERTAIN HOME PRACTICES ON REDUCED ASCORBIC ACID CONTENT OF PEAS, RHUBARB, SNAP BEANS, SOYBEANS, AND SPINACH 1

“…It is interesting to note that holding in the refrigerator resulted in no change in the ascorbic acid content of rhubarb sauce and a further loss of six per cent in cooked spinach. The 40-per cent decrease in the ascorbic acid content of potatoes on holding, reported by Van Duyne, Chase, and Simpson (1945), is of much greater magnitude.…”