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OneEightActual t1_iucfsts wrote

Reply to comment by KingHenry13th in The Discovery that Lemons Cure Scurvy Caused the Formation of the Sicilian Mafia by agreea

Funner fact: the British were dismayed to find out that limes don't actually prevent scurvy; although they taste sour because of citirc acid, they don't actually contain a lot of Vitamin C. It turns out there was some confusion about the translations for words like limón that might might mean limes, lemons or even both. What we know as limes were just easier to come by in a lot of British colonies, so that's what they used, with inconsistent and sometimes disappointing results.

Even funner still fact: scurvy was widespread in winter months in Europe before potatoes were cultivated from the New World in the 17th Century. Potatoes gained popularity because they grew easily on land that might otherwise be unusable for farming, and potatoes could be stored for months with little effort. Through an accident that wasn't understood until the 20th Century, it turned out that potatoes contained just enough Vitamin C to help stave off the worst of scurvy. At about the same time limes were adopted, potatoes became more common for provisioning ships too, and the reduction in scurvy was misattributed to limes.

Edit: forgot supporting link about Vitamin C in potatoes, sry

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Thebitterestballen t1_iucivv8 wrote

Also many spices, such as chilli or star anise, contain huge amounts of vitamin C. There where ships that lost most of their crew to scurvy while bringing spices from the east, without knowing their ship was stuffed with the cure.

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Iwantmyflag t1_iuco7qi wrote

None of this is true.

Limes contain a lot of vitamin C.

Various cabbages were a widespread winter food in Europe and contain plenty vitamin C.

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Isthecoldwarover t1_iucopa7 wrote

I thought the same on your first point since spuds contain less vitamin c than limes but assume the quantity of each ration was actually improtant, so it was the daily handful of spuds rather than whatever their lime ration was that made the difference

Don't get your second point since cabbages wouldn't last the full lenght of a journey in comparison to spuds which have a much longer shelf life

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OneEightActual t1_iucrwzr wrote

That's the thing; potatoes were given daily or even several times daily when they were available, which got really common. Limes/lime juice were rationed more carefully. I can't find the reference now, but there was even a British expedition to the Antarctic relying on limes that got stricken with scurvy, and it could not be explained why at the time.

Fermented cabbage products like sauerkraut were trialed and were successful, but weren't widely adopted, perhaps because of the Brits' tendency to cook it in iron cookware that gave it an unpleasant metallic taste.

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Frosty-Wave-3807 t1_iue5rgn wrote

Sauerkraut can easily survive 6+ months. I've eaten older preparations, both that I've made and commercially prepared, for longer than that, 10+ months. It took anywhere from ~8-12 weeks to sail across the Atlantic. Think the sauerkraut would be fine.

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ends_abruptl t1_iudgkzz wrote

Yeah, not to mention you need less than a tenth of a gram of vitamin C a day. It's ludicrously easy to get enough. So easy in fact, the human body never evolved a vitamin C storage system.

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