EFFECT OF CERTAIN HOME PRACTICES ON RIBOFLAVIN CONTENT OF CABBAGE, PEAS, SNAP BEANS, AND SPINACH¹

Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine the effect of certain home practices on the retention of riboflaviii in some commonly used vegetables. Three general procedures were employed and the amounts of riboflavin present before and after each treatment were determined. Cabbage was shredded and held in water for one and three hours and in air for two hours j cabbage, peas, snap beans, and spinach were cooked in various amounts of water for different lengths of time; and cabbage was cooked, cooked and held in the refrigerator, aiid cooked, held, and reheated.Although information is available in the literature concerning the riboflavin content of raw vegetables, little has been reported on the effect of cooking, holding, and reheating on the retention of this vitamin. Investigations have been carried on to determine the effect of varying the amounts of cooking water and the lengths of cooking time. These indicate that, while riboflavin is not readily destroyed by heat, such variations in procedure influence the distribution of riboflavin between the cooked vegetable and the cooking water. A brief survey of the literature follows.Cheldelin, Woods, and Williams (1943) studied the effect of steaming on the riboflavin content of cabbage. The raw cabbage contained 57 micrograms of riboflavin per 100 grams and lost 16 per cent during a 30-minute steaming period.Oser, Melnick, and Oser (1943) observed that raw peas with a riboflavin content of 2.58 micrograms per gram retained 93 and 69 per cent of this amount during cooking in a very small amount of water and in a larger amount of water for a longer period of time, respectively. The peas analyzed by Johnston, Schauer, Rapaport, and Deuel (1943) contained 203 micrograms of riboflavin per 100 grams. When cooked in aluminum pans, 64 per cent was retained ; similar results were obtained when Pyrex pans were used for cooking. Mackinney and Sugihara (1942) determined the riboflavin content of raw and cooked peas and found that the values obtained before and after cooking were in the same range. Little difference in riboflavin content was noted by Rose and Phipard (1937) for raw peas and peas cooked in water to barely cover for 15 minutes. Phillips and Fenton (1945) reported an average value of 0.140 milligram of riboflavin per 100 grams of raw Tendergreen snap beans; 78 per Work undertaken as part of the National Cooperative Experiment Station Project on " Conservation of Nutritive Values of Foods. " 162