12 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 390 



of their ascorbic acid as compared to a 37 percent loss for boiled potatoes. Rolf 

 (39) has also reported a slightly greater loss of ascorbic acid in baked than in 

 boiled potatoes. 



Boiling in Salted and Unsalted Water 



According to Lanman and Minton (26), the texture and the flavor of vegetables 

 are improved if salt is added to the water during the cooking process rather than 

 after it has been completed. In this work six potatoes were tested before and 

 after boiling in salted and unsalted water. After a 25-gram portion had been re- 

 moved horizontally across the center to determine the ascorbic acid content of 

 the raw potato, one-half of the tuber was placed in boiling water containing 

 1 percent salt and the other half in boiling unsalted water. As may be seen in 

 Table 9 the percentage of ascorbic acid lost varied with the individual tuber. 

 However, there was a 4 percent difference between the average percentage of 

 retention of ascorbic acid in favor of the salted water. These findings are in 

 agreement with those of H0ygaard and Rasmussen (21) who found that the addi- 

 tion of 1 percent sodium chloride to the cooking water of potatoes appeared to 

 aid in the retention of their ascorbic acid. 



Table 9. — Losses of Ascorbic Acid Due to Boiling Green Mountain 

 Potatoes in Unsalted or Salted Water 



Ascorbic Acid — mg. per gm. Loss — percent 



Potato Raw Boiled in Boiled in Boiled in Boiled in 



No. Unsalted Salted Unsalted Salted 



Water Walter Water Water 



1 0.126* 0.050* 0.059* 63.1 53.1 



2 0.092 0.050 0.055 45.6 40.2 



*The same tuber was used for each test of a series. 



Various Common Methods of Cooking 



Further tests were conducted on the effect of cooking on the vitamin C content 

 of potatoes. These tests included various methods of preparing potatoes that are 

 commonh- used in the home such as frying, mashing, and holding boiled potatoes 

 overnight in a refrigerator to be used in potato dishes the following day. These 

 data are all summarized in Table 10. All values are based on an average of ap- 

 proximately eight tubers. The values obtained in this investigation are generally 

 lower than those reported in a similar study by Richardson, Davis, and Mayfield 

 (37). This difference may be accounted for by the fact that the potatoes used 

 in this study had been in cold storage for six months as compared with thirty 

 days' storage in the case of the above authors. It is felt that the data obtained 



