You know, sailors used to get scurvy because of C deficiency back a couple centuries ago. Vitamin C degrades really easily, but is there any way you can store it long term other than pills or tablets? I’m just wondering if it would have been possible to do this in the past with the technology that was available.
Vitamin C is heat sensitive but pickling is fine and a good reason why pickled cabbage is popular in places with cold winter. Beyond that, it’s straight up foraging for greens and berries. Plenty of leafy greens allowed enough vitamin c to stave off scurvy.
Vorticity@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Here’s a really interesting article on how it was discovered that citrus would help. They were also able to preserve citrus and citrus juice with alcohol. They could also turn it into a concentrated syrup without too much loss of vitamin C.
From what I just read, they didn’t do this, but dried citrus, when dried at a cool temperature, retains the majority of its vitamin C.
Nighed@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
We then forgot how to cure it: www.bluesci.co.uk/posts/forgotten-knowledge#%3A~%….
And had to rediscover it.
Mothra@mander.xyz 3 weeks ago
That’s a cool read, thanks for sharing