Vitamin B and G Values of Peas and Lima Beans under Various Conditions

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Abstract
The vitamin B and G content of fresh peas has been determined for raw, cooked and frozen material and for mature seeds dry and sprouted; also for fresh Lima beans, both raw and frozen and for the mature seeds. Fresh raw peas were found to be a rich source of vitamin B, containing approximately 3 Sherman-Chase units per gram. Peas of the same season showed no loss due to freezing but a 26% loss in cooking 15 minutes. Peas of two seasons differed by almost 100%. Fresh Lima beans were only half as potent in vitamin B as fresh peas. Maturity in both peas and Lima beans resulted in loss of approximately half of the vitamin B. Seedling peas grown on pure sand for 14 days showed loss of over half of the vitamin B but synthesis of vitamin G, the newly formed plant material being as good a source as the original seed, and the seed residue still containing a considerable amount of the vitamin. Differences between fresh and frozen Lima beans of the same variety and season but grown in different regions show that locality must be taken into account in vitamin studies. Seasonal differences in vitamin G appeared in the frozen peas of the two crops studied just as in case of vitamin B. The vitamin G content of both fresh raw peas and Lima beans was the same, 1 Sherman-Bourquin unit per gram. There was no loss of vitamin G in either in cooking or freezing. In mature seeds of both kinds there was little loss of vitamin G as compared with the fresh seed.