The Zscheile Method Proves Best 

 for Determining Carotene in Foods. 

 As a result of investigations during 

 the past three years, it has been 

 shown that the Zscheile method is 

 more applicable, over a wider range, 

 than any other method tried. This 

 method worked with any of the 

 tested food materials which included 

 fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh 

 plant tissue, canned foods, frozen 

 foods, and dried products. Slight 

 modifications of the method are re- 

 quired in applying it to dried foods. 



H. J. PURINTON 



Vitamin C in Canned Vegetables. 

 County and home demonstration 

 agents in Coos, Merrimack, and 

 Cheshire counties collected samples 

 of home-canned tomatoes, green and 

 yellow beans, corn, and carrots, 

 totaling 405 jars. These samples 

 were sent to the University of New 

 Hampshire to be analyzed to see 

 what amounts of certain important 

 nutrients are contained in home- 

 canned produce in this state. 



Fig. 1 — Checking samples of home- 



canned fruits and vegetables as they came 



in for nutritive value studies. 



To date, all the tomatoes (129 

 samples) and green beans (75 

 samples) have been analyzed for 

 ascorbic acid (vitamin C), one of 

 the important nutrients. 



The ascorbic acid content of ? 

 pint of tomatoes ranged from 3 to 

 103 mg. and 70 per cent of them 



were within the range of 31 to 70 

 mg., which is considered by most 

 authorities as being within the range 

 of the daily requirement of an adult 

 for this vitamin. These values com- 

 pare reasonably well with figures 

 quoted for commercially-canned to- 

 matoes, and tomatoes processed by 

 ordinary home methods but under 

 rigidly controlled conditions. Home 

 canned tomatoes from Cheshire and 

 Merrimack counties contained, on 

 the average, more ascorbic acid than 

 those from Coos county. Many 

 factors, such as variety, soil, and 

 maturity, influence ascorbic acid con- 

 tent of foods, but complete data on 

 all these points are not available. 

 Therefore, no explanation for these 

 variations is possible. 



The ascorbic acid content of 

 green beans ranged from 0-97 mg. 

 per pint with 50 per cent of them 

 being within the range of 11 to 40 

 mg. per pint. This is a somewhat 

 lower range than figures for com- 

 mercially-canned products but com- 

 pares very favorably with values for 

 home-canned beans, processed under 

 rigidly controlled conditions. 



Samples from Merrimack and 

 Coos counties, on the average, con- 

 tained more ascorbic acid than those 

 from Cheshire county. Again, too 

 many variables are concerned to al- 

 low full explanation. Four samples 

 contained no ascorbic acid. 

 S. R. Shimer 



H. J. PURINTON 



Nen) Frozen Food Containers 

 Prove Highly Satisfactory in Pre- 

 venting Moisture Losses. A contin- 

 uous supply of new types of contain- 

 ers for use in freezing fruits and 

 vegetables is reaching the consumer 

 market. The usefulness of each type 

 must be tested by determining how 

 well it safeguards the packaged food. 

 The ideal container must be moist- 

 ure-vapor proof ("leak-proof") to 

 prevent changes in the quality of the 

 product it contains. During the past 



