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Apples picked and eaten straight from the tree (without peeling-there are significant amounts of vitamin C in the peel) can be anything from a good to a very good source of vitamin C. The variation depends on which variety of apple you are eating. The vitamin C content about halves after three months storage-with the exception of 'Sturmer', a hard, acid, late variety that is rarely available today. Remarkably, it loses no vitamin C in three months of cool storage.All values in the chart below are rounded to the nearest whole number. Exactly half a milligram is rounded up, not down.
This information is from the 'Changes in Vitamin C Content and
Acidity
of Apples during Cool Storage', Askew & Kidson, reported in the NZ
Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 28, No.5 1947,
and from data from the New York experiment station reported in 1946.
(variety) |
mg vit C/100 grams |
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COOL STORAGE mg vit C/100 grams |
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Caville blanc |
35-40 |
nd |
excellent |
nd |
- |
Sturmer |
29 |
29 |
very good |
nd |
- |
Yellow Newton |
16 |
nd |
very good |
nd |
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Northern Spy |
15-20 |
nd |
very good |
nd |
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Baldwin |
15-20 |
nd |
very good |
nd |
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Winesap |
10 |
nd |
good |
nd |
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McIntosh |
4 |
nd |
fair |
nd |
Any variety which has from 6 to 15 grams of vitamin C and is
not highly packed with sugars is regarded as a 'good' source.
Some very sweet fruit can be regarded as fairly good sources because they have more than 6 grams a serving, but not much more.
Any variety that gives from about 15 grams to about 30 grams can be considered a 'very good' source of vitamin C
When a variety has more than about 30 grams per serving, it is an 'excellent' source of Vitamin C.
* These values are for the flesh only, peeled of the skin. Apple
skin,
or the flesh just under it, has very good amounts of vitamin C
-typically
around 50mg/100gms, and for some cultivars, such as 'Granny Smith' and
'Sturmer', very good amounts, at around 100mg/100gms of peel. No one
sits
down to a big feed of apple peel, but it does mean if you eat the apple
without peeling it you will take in more vitamin C than the figures for
the flesh alone suggest.
Vitamin C content of apple cultivars - no sources listed, but
a page from the North American Fruit Explorers site listing vitamin C
content of various apples.
http://www.nafex.org/jansonfiles/JansonJan68.htm
Please email any figures you have on the
ascorbic
acid content of apple cultivars-
E-mail me here