Does More Sour Fruit Have More Vitamin C? | ZhenXindustry.Com

Does more sour fruit have more vitamin C?

I once heard a conversation between neighbors like this: "Mom! This orange is too sour, it's sour enough to make my teeth fall out!" "That's good! The sourer the fruit, the more vitamin C it contains. Eat more!" Is this really the case?

First of all, there are indeed some fruits that taste very sour and have high vitamin C content. For example, the vitamin C content of sour jujube and sea buckthorn is as high as 900 mg/100 g and 204 mg/100 g, respectively, which is more than 200 times and more than 50 times the vitamin C content of apples (4 mg/100 g).

However, there are also many fruits that do not conform to this rule. For example, apricots and plums taste sour enough, but the vitamin C content is very low, only 4 mg/100 g and 5 mg/100 g, respectively.

Comparing the sweet fresh jujube with the sour lemon, some people may say that lemons must have more vitamin C, but the fact is just the opposite. The vitamin C content in 100 grams of lemons is only 22 mg, while the vitamin C content in 100 grams of fresh jujubes is as high as 243 mg. Under the same weight, the vitamin C content of lemon is less than 1/10 of that of fresh dates. Therefore, there is no saying that the more sour the fruit, the higher the vitamin content. The vitamin content is usually not related to the sweetness and sourness of the fruit. Each fruit has a different taste, and the vitamin C content in each fruit is also different.

The acidity of the fruit is related to the organic acid content, such as malic acid and citric acid. Whether the fruit is sour or sweet depends mainly on the proportion of sugar and organic acid in the fruit. If the sugar content is high and the organic acid content is low, the fruit is sweeter; otherwise, the fruit is more sour, which has no direct relationship with the vitamin C content.

Which fruits have a high vitamin C content?

According to the Chinese Food Composition Table, fruits with a high vitamin C content include: roxburgh, sour jujube, fresh jujube, sea buckthorn, guava, Chinese kiwi, strawberry, papaya, longan, lychee, orange, persimmon, citrus, etc.

Of course, fruits like roxburgh, sour jujube, and sea buckthorn are relatively rare. We can usually get enough vitamin C by eating common fruits such as fresh jujube, kiwi, guava, strawberry, papaya, longan, lychee, and citrus.

In order to obtain rich vitamin C, it is recommended to have a diversified diet and eat a variety of fruits and vegetables. At the same time, eating fresh, ripe fruits and properly storing and processing fruits, such as making fruits into juice and storing them in aluminum cans, can help to maximize the retention of nutrients in fruits.

How to eat sour fruits?

Fruits such as lemon, passion fruit, hawthorn, plum, orange, and kiwi are not necessarily edible because they taste sour. Some people will think of adding sugar, such as passion fruit honey tea, hawthorn jam, and plum pickled with sugar...

However, we all know that eating too much sugar is not good, such as increasing the risk of tooth decay, causing excess energy, and increasing the risk of obesity. Obese people are more likely to have chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. What should we do?

The simpler way is to eat them with other sweeter foods. For example, kiwi can be mixed with sweet bananas and eaten together. You can also add milk to make kiwi banana milkshake. For another example, hawthorn can be cooked with sweet red dates. If you want dessert, just add more red dates.

Misunderstanding: Misalignment of taste and nutrition
Why do we think that the sourer the fruit, the higher the vitamin C content? This may be related to our impression of certain fruits rich in vitamin C. For example, lemons and oranges are known for their sour taste and are rich sources of vitamin C. Therefore, when we taste the sourness of these fruits, it is easy to associate them with vitamin C. But in fact, the strength of sourness cannot be used as a criterion for measuring vitamin C content.