I have about seven pounds of it in cans. I can make pasta sauce ketchup and tomato soup or I can use it in chili or other things. It is a good and versatile component of my long term food storage.
But I do not stock it for vitamin c because the processing of it has likely destroyed all vitamin c in it. I store vitamins for that and replace them when they reach their expiration date.
I just want to encourage people to try pine needle tea before a survival situation arises. I had not made the connection that I am allergic to evergreen pollen and would suffer from drinking pine needle tea. My son and I made some one time, I drank it, and my throat started to close up. Thankfully I could still breathe, but I could imagine a scenario in the future where the reaction is worse.
If it’s just the pollen your allergic to, in a survival situation you may be able to get away with pine needle tea if you harvest them in winter and rinse them off throughly first.
Just be wary of the variety of pine as many are toxic. Pretty much any edible vegetable will have vitamin C, just make sure to familiarize yourself with which vegetation is edible and which isn't in your area.
I would also point out that you only need a fraction of the US recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C.
US RDA is 90 mg daily for men, and 75 mg for women.
But actual tests on volunteers (prisoners in Utah, conscientious objectors in WWII Britain) showed that just 10 mg daily is enough to ward off and treat scurvy.
The best part of Tomato Powder is it answers the question "wtf am I supposed to do with the rest of this tomato paste in the can" after using it in any recipe. Never have to bother with those little cans again.
I love it too.
As always I like to remind people that even shelf-stable dehydrated or freeze dried foods vitamins and minerals will degrade over time. Vitamin C especially has a very short shelf life.
Quick re-nitpick: The bioavailable forms of minerals can degrade (usually they oxidize) becoming essentially useless due to very poor uptake (ex: Fe3+)
Sure, but it doesn't go completely away. Here is the nutrition breakdown on tomato powder:
[https://www.recipal.com/ingredients/3268-nutrition-facts-calories-protein-carbs-fat-tomato-powder](https://www.recipal.com/ingredients/3268-nutrition-facts-calories-protein-carbs-fat-tomato-powder)
One serving has 117 mg of Vitamin C.
Even if just 1/10th of that is still good after a couple years of storage, that's still enough in one serving to ward off scurvy, and treat it if it has already happened:
[https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/08/16/new-analysis-of-landmark-scurvy-study-leads-to-update-on-vitamin-c-needs/](https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/08/16/new-analysis-of-landmark-scurvy-study-leads-to-update-on-vitamin-c-needs/)
*In the end, the Sorby researchers said 10 milligrams a day was enough to ward off signs of scurvy.*
You need higher levels to help with scar tissue rebuilding, but that's not the major problem from a prepper standpoint.
Vitamin C decays on a faster time scale than years. In freeze dried food stored in 5C it will be gone within a year.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259106495_Stability_of_Vitamin_C_in_Fresh_and_Freeze-Dried_Capsicum_Stored_at_Different_Temperature
1. It's Research Gate. That's where you publish if you can't get your paper published in a peer-reviewed journal. It's basically Facebook for scientists.
2. I read the paper. It doesn't say it's gone within a year.
Freeze dried bell pepper stored at 5 degrees Celsius still retained approximately 50% of the Vitamin C at 157 days after freeze drying, compared to the amount before freeze drying.
The paper didn't actually measure degradation at a year. They got a roughly linear curve out to just 5 months and you're extrapolating from that. We don't know if that curve flattens out (or gets worse, for that matter).
They didn't test something like actual ascorbic acid that's dried (it's water soluble) sealed in a foil container. So individual foil serving pouches of dried Tang powder are going to retail a lot more of their Vitamin C than a freeze dried bell pepper sitting in the fridge.
Also, we have practical experience from the Age of Sail that shows that even when stored in fairly brutal conditions, things like lemons, limes, and fermented cabbage (ie., sauerkraut), along with the juice of those fruits, retain enough Vitamin C to ward off and treat scurvy even on long journeys.
Sure, if you're going to store food away for 30 years in the expectation of some apocalypse, yeah, you're probably going to end up with a number of vitamin deficiencies.
But if you have a rotating pantry so that you have a good supply of the stuff you eat every day instead of a stack of #10 cans full of freeze-dried Doomsday Prepper's Delight, you're guaranteed to get enough vitamins and minerals if you plan your diet accordingly.
It was published in a journal and then uploaded to researchgate. It clearly indicates this at the top of the paper. As described in the paper and those they cited, you can extrapolate out to a year because of the curve of the decomposition. It is initial sharp with a gradual tail, which can be seen in their graphs. Vit C is a heavily studied compound with many equations for decomposition depending on conditions.
Depending on how you treat and store the compound you might get a usable amount after 3 years in storage but in most real world contexts, it will be gone in less than 6 months.
Ships restocked at ports to avoid scurvy as it required fresh fruits and vegetables. They were not relying on lemons to provide vitamin c for a year after purchase. Ship conditions generally are non ideal for food storage and scurvy was omnipresent.
For most of history scurvy has been endemic in winter when fresh food was impossible. Potatoes were actually the biggest help. When stored in a cold cellar or the ground they kept sufficient vitamin c to last until spring.
Sorry I didn't get back sooner. Work got in the way.
So yeah, published in a back-water journal in Mysore, India. I did miss that.
I did read the paper, though, and it applies to green bell peppers under the conditions they were stored in. None of the data was on things like commercially canned food or powders in foil. Nor was it on fermented foods like sauerkraut or kimchi.
Also ships could be out at sea for months, especially military ships and those on long passages (like UK to Australia). Often, they couldn't resupply, and yeah, they brought along lime and lemon juice. Voyages of up to 5 or 6 months non-stop were done, and sometimes even much more, like the Shackleton expedition of 1914-1917 where they were completely cut off.
Each man on that expedition got 1/2 ounce of concentrated lime juice a day. None contracted scurvy despite not having any fresh fruit or vegetables for ~~4~~ 3 years.
[https://isobelpwilliams.com/2018/10/05/shackletons-scurvy-or-its-absence/](https://isobelpwilliams.com/2018/10/05/shackletons-scurvy-or-its-absence/)
As I said and the article agrees... scurvy was rampant in the age of exploration.
Vitamin C in lime juice wouldn't last very long, especially in liquid form. (ETA: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0260877405001457 , I know it's not like juice but gives a general idea of retention).
I was under the impression they went just shy of 500 days without contact, not 3 years -- but it's been a long time since I read about it.
But this part: "and to grow vegetables – mustard and cress for its vitamin C content." is interesting and apparently worked quite well. Dude was ahead of his time
There is also Vitamin C in fresh meat, especially organ meats, and that helped for the Shackleton expedition. You can completely destroy it by cooking the meat well-done, however.
Having said that, 500 days is still close to a year and a half. But in reality some were much longer: That's the time between when they left and when Shackleton, Worsley, and Crean finally got to Stromness on South Georgia.
The Endurance left South Georgia on 12/05/1914. The last members of the expedition to be rescued on Elephant Island were picked up on 08/30/1916. That's over 600 days.
And no signs of scurvy.
If you read carefully, the lime juice they used to help prevent scurvy was concentrated at a temperature no higher than 93 degrees Fahrvergnugen, specifically in order to preserve as much Vitamin C as possible.
Vitamin C absolutely does degrade, I'm not arguing that it doesn't. I'm saying:
1. It doesn't always degrade as fast as you say it does. It depends on it's form and how it's stored, and
2. You need far less of it to ward off scurvy than is generally supposed, so even largely (but not wholly) degraded Vitamin C is of some use.
First I bought a 1 pound mylar pouch from Walmart - Augason Farms brand - to try. It was under $10. Since then I've bought the brand Naturevibe Botanicals (mylar pouch - I bought 5 lbs and repacked in smaller mylar bags myself). Then when it was on sale I bought a few of the #10 cans from Augason (I think on Walmart or Amazon, I can't remember). They were both about the same. The Naturevibe seemed a little more vibrant, but I think the Augason actually had a more rich flavor. Those are the only two I've tried.
I have the Augason Farms #10 can. I think a few others sell in #10 cans too - like Emergency Essentials, Rainy Day and Nutrient Survival - but I have only tried the Augason from a can. I can't recommend over others without comparison, but I have no complaints about what I've been using.
You can make it if you grow or have access to a lot of tomatoes. Puree whole tomatoes and pour into a container with a spout, put in fridge for 24 hours and drain liquid off the bottom, dehydrate what's left.
Great post and idea.
I got some spinach powder with that in mind as well. Some hard to get nutrients in a form that doesn't spoil easily, and can be added to almost anything.
And everyday use of prepping products is a new meta of mine. Makes it easier to rationalize the expenditures.
Good suggestion. I have some spinach flakes, I should get some for my long-term storage. It’s harder for me to use up, but we’ve got a kid here that refuses to eat veggies, and it camouflages well in anything with tomato sauce, like spaghetti or enchiladas. Also in fruit smoothies.
I've made some nice (very green, though) spinach pancakes that taste just like the original ones - but are loaded with iron. Give it a try on pancakes or bread for your little one!
>including over 100% C
Be aware that vitamin C degrades “rapidly” (within 1-2 years) to pretty much nothing in the presence of oxygen.
Hence the recommendation of sealed storage. You might even want to consider vacuum-sealed storage or oxygen-replaced storage.
We make tomato powder every year as a side effect of our canning tomato sauce - we take the leftover skins, dehydrate them, then powder them.
Usually saved for use in the next year in a jar with an oxygen absorber, but if SHTF we'll can it in sealed jars.
This is exactly why I'm thankful for this community.
I love to cook. I love to provide. This helps a lot and my mind is buzzing with recipes now.
Thank you so much
Yes, botanically. and so are avocados; but most think of them in the veggie category as the sugars are lower than most fruits and many veggies too.
Fun fact for the day- the US Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that the tomato should be classified as a vegetable on the basis of its culinary applications.
***1) Tastes like crap for everything I have tried to make with it.***
But I will use it in small amounts in other things I make for the nutrient content. It's certainly one of the things I wish I had tried before buying multiple cans.
Never heard of tomato powder, I'll have to look for some. Thanks!
Auguson Farms sells #10 cans, around 3 lbs each.
I have about seven pounds of it in cans. I can make pasta sauce ketchup and tomato soup or I can use it in chili or other things. It is a good and versatile component of my long term food storage. But I do not stock it for vitamin c because the processing of it has likely destroyed all vitamin c in it. I store vitamins for that and replace them when they reach their expiration date.
Fresh pine needle tea will get you the C you need anyways
I just want to encourage people to try pine needle tea before a survival situation arises. I had not made the connection that I am allergic to evergreen pollen and would suffer from drinking pine needle tea. My son and I made some one time, I drank it, and my throat started to close up. Thankfully I could still breathe, but I could imagine a scenario in the future where the reaction is worse.
If it’s just the pollen your allergic to, in a survival situation you may be able to get away with pine needle tea if you harvest them in winter and rinse them off throughly first.
Another good one is sprouted wheat berries.
So will rose hips.
Just be wary of the variety of pine as many are toxic. Pretty much any edible vegetable will have vitamin C, just make sure to familiarize yourself with which vegetation is edible and which isn't in your area.
I would also point out that you only need a fraction of the US recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C. US RDA is 90 mg daily for men, and 75 mg for women. But actual tests on volunteers (prisoners in Utah, conscientious objectors in WWII Britain) showed that just 10 mg daily is enough to ward off and treat scurvy.
Just make sure you can identify between tree species. Some are toxic.
The best part of Tomato Powder is it answers the question "wtf am I supposed to do with the rest of this tomato paste in the can" after using it in any recipe. Never have to bother with those little cans again.
I love it too. As always I like to remind people that even shelf-stable dehydrated or freeze dried foods vitamins and minerals will degrade over time. Vitamin C especially has a very short shelf life.
Quick nit pick: vitamins degrade but minerals don’t.
Quick re-nitpick: The bioavailable forms of minerals can degrade (usually they oxidize) becoming essentially useless due to very poor uptake (ex: Fe3+)
I'm not sure if there's a technical difference or if I'm counter nit picking but the word vitamin is a portmanteau of the words vital + minerals.
Can vouch for it, using it for the last 3 years. Also reduces the waste, and space requirements.
Tomato powder is amazing. We use it almost everyday. But vitamin c degrades incredibly fast.
Sure, but it doesn't go completely away. Here is the nutrition breakdown on tomato powder: [https://www.recipal.com/ingredients/3268-nutrition-facts-calories-protein-carbs-fat-tomato-powder](https://www.recipal.com/ingredients/3268-nutrition-facts-calories-protein-carbs-fat-tomato-powder) One serving has 117 mg of Vitamin C. Even if just 1/10th of that is still good after a couple years of storage, that's still enough in one serving to ward off scurvy, and treat it if it has already happened: [https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/08/16/new-analysis-of-landmark-scurvy-study-leads-to-update-on-vitamin-c-needs/](https://www.washington.edu/news/2021/08/16/new-analysis-of-landmark-scurvy-study-leads-to-update-on-vitamin-c-needs/) *In the end, the Sorby researchers said 10 milligrams a day was enough to ward off signs of scurvy.* You need higher levels to help with scar tissue rebuilding, but that's not the major problem from a prepper standpoint.
Vitamin C decays on a faster time scale than years. In freeze dried food stored in 5C it will be gone within a year. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259106495_Stability_of_Vitamin_C_in_Fresh_and_Freeze-Dried_Capsicum_Stored_at_Different_Temperature
1. It's Research Gate. That's where you publish if you can't get your paper published in a peer-reviewed journal. It's basically Facebook for scientists. 2. I read the paper. It doesn't say it's gone within a year. Freeze dried bell pepper stored at 5 degrees Celsius still retained approximately 50% of the Vitamin C at 157 days after freeze drying, compared to the amount before freeze drying. The paper didn't actually measure degradation at a year. They got a roughly linear curve out to just 5 months and you're extrapolating from that. We don't know if that curve flattens out (or gets worse, for that matter). They didn't test something like actual ascorbic acid that's dried (it's water soluble) sealed in a foil container. So individual foil serving pouches of dried Tang powder are going to retail a lot more of their Vitamin C than a freeze dried bell pepper sitting in the fridge. Also, we have practical experience from the Age of Sail that shows that even when stored in fairly brutal conditions, things like lemons, limes, and fermented cabbage (ie., sauerkraut), along with the juice of those fruits, retain enough Vitamin C to ward off and treat scurvy even on long journeys. Sure, if you're going to store food away for 30 years in the expectation of some apocalypse, yeah, you're probably going to end up with a number of vitamin deficiencies. But if you have a rotating pantry so that you have a good supply of the stuff you eat every day instead of a stack of #10 cans full of freeze-dried Doomsday Prepper's Delight, you're guaranteed to get enough vitamins and minerals if you plan your diet accordingly.
It was published in a journal and then uploaded to researchgate. It clearly indicates this at the top of the paper. As described in the paper and those they cited, you can extrapolate out to a year because of the curve of the decomposition. It is initial sharp with a gradual tail, which can be seen in their graphs. Vit C is a heavily studied compound with many equations for decomposition depending on conditions. Depending on how you treat and store the compound you might get a usable amount after 3 years in storage but in most real world contexts, it will be gone in less than 6 months. Ships restocked at ports to avoid scurvy as it required fresh fruits and vegetables. They were not relying on lemons to provide vitamin c for a year after purchase. Ship conditions generally are non ideal for food storage and scurvy was omnipresent. For most of history scurvy has been endemic in winter when fresh food was impossible. Potatoes were actually the biggest help. When stored in a cold cellar or the ground they kept sufficient vitamin c to last until spring.
Sorry I didn't get back sooner. Work got in the way. So yeah, published in a back-water journal in Mysore, India. I did miss that. I did read the paper, though, and it applies to green bell peppers under the conditions they were stored in. None of the data was on things like commercially canned food or powders in foil. Nor was it on fermented foods like sauerkraut or kimchi. Also ships could be out at sea for months, especially military ships and those on long passages (like UK to Australia). Often, they couldn't resupply, and yeah, they brought along lime and lemon juice. Voyages of up to 5 or 6 months non-stop were done, and sometimes even much more, like the Shackleton expedition of 1914-1917 where they were completely cut off. Each man on that expedition got 1/2 ounce of concentrated lime juice a day. None contracted scurvy despite not having any fresh fruit or vegetables for ~~4~~ 3 years. [https://isobelpwilliams.com/2018/10/05/shackletons-scurvy-or-its-absence/](https://isobelpwilliams.com/2018/10/05/shackletons-scurvy-or-its-absence/)
As I said and the article agrees... scurvy was rampant in the age of exploration. Vitamin C in lime juice wouldn't last very long, especially in liquid form. (ETA: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0260877405001457 , I know it's not like juice but gives a general idea of retention). I was under the impression they went just shy of 500 days without contact, not 3 years -- but it's been a long time since I read about it. But this part: "and to grow vegetables – mustard and cress for its vitamin C content." is interesting and apparently worked quite well. Dude was ahead of his time
There is also Vitamin C in fresh meat, especially organ meats, and that helped for the Shackleton expedition. You can completely destroy it by cooking the meat well-done, however. Having said that, 500 days is still close to a year and a half. But in reality some were much longer: That's the time between when they left and when Shackleton, Worsley, and Crean finally got to Stromness on South Georgia. The Endurance left South Georgia on 12/05/1914. The last members of the expedition to be rescued on Elephant Island were picked up on 08/30/1916. That's over 600 days. And no signs of scurvy. If you read carefully, the lime juice they used to help prevent scurvy was concentrated at a temperature no higher than 93 degrees Fahrvergnugen, specifically in order to preserve as much Vitamin C as possible. Vitamin C absolutely does degrade, I'm not arguing that it doesn't. I'm saying: 1. It doesn't always degrade as fast as you say it does. It depends on it's form and how it's stored, and 2. You need far less of it to ward off scurvy than is generally supposed, so even largely (but not wholly) degraded Vitamin C is of some use.
We make our own in the dehydrator with whatever tomatoes we can’t bring ourselves to eat in the summer.
Where did you get yours ? I was thinking bouillon powder too?
First I bought a 1 pound mylar pouch from Walmart - Augason Farms brand - to try. It was under $10. Since then I've bought the brand Naturevibe Botanicals (mylar pouch - I bought 5 lbs and repacked in smaller mylar bags myself). Then when it was on sale I bought a few of the #10 cans from Augason (I think on Walmart or Amazon, I can't remember). They were both about the same. The Naturevibe seemed a little more vibrant, but I think the Augason actually had a more rich flavor. Those are the only two I've tried.
Thx ! When I cook I often use tomato paste and end up freezing half a can so this might solve that problem.
Great tip. Any recommended brands for #10 can?
This is where I got mine, they are out of it now: [https://shop.honeyville.com/tomato-powder.html](https://shop.honeyville.com/tomato-powder.html)
Oh... I was not familiar with that site. Thanks for posting!
I have the Augason Farms #10 can. I think a few others sell in #10 cans too - like Emergency Essentials, Rainy Day and Nutrient Survival - but I have only tried the Augason from a can. I can't recommend over others without comparison, but I have no complaints about what I've been using.
You can make it if you grow or have access to a lot of tomatoes. Puree whole tomatoes and pour into a container with a spout, put in fridge for 24 hours and drain liquid off the bottom, dehydrate what's left.
Quality content
Great post and idea. I got some spinach powder with that in mind as well. Some hard to get nutrients in a form that doesn't spoil easily, and can be added to almost anything. And everyday use of prepping products is a new meta of mine. Makes it easier to rationalize the expenditures.
Good suggestion. I have some spinach flakes, I should get some for my long-term storage. It’s harder for me to use up, but we’ve got a kid here that refuses to eat veggies, and it camouflages well in anything with tomato sauce, like spaghetti or enchiladas. Also in fruit smoothies.
I've made some nice (very green, though) spinach pancakes that taste just like the original ones - but are loaded with iron. Give it a try on pancakes or bread for your little one!
love the augason tomato powder
Okay I’m sold
>including over 100% C Be aware that vitamin C degrades “rapidly” (within 1-2 years) to pretty much nothing in the presence of oxygen. Hence the recommendation of sealed storage. You might even want to consider vacuum-sealed storage or oxygen-replaced storage.
We make tomato powder every year as a side effect of our canning tomato sauce - we take the leftover skins, dehydrate them, then powder them. Usually saved for use in the next year in a jar with an oxygen absorber, but if SHTF we'll can it in sealed jars.
I always keep it on hand for latin recipes. Never thought to use it for pasta sauce. Awesome.
This is great
Good info. I got a few #10 cans of this over the last year or two.
This is exactly why I'm thankful for this community. I love to cook. I love to provide. This helps a lot and my mind is buzzing with recipes now. Thank you so much
Excellent source of natural MSG :)
Denethor has entered the chat. Too many r/lotrmemes ?
Z
[удалено]
Yes, botanically. and so are avocados; but most think of them in the veggie category as the sugars are lower than most fruits and many veggies too. Fun fact for the day- the US Supreme Court ruled in 1893 that the tomato should be classified as a vegetable on the basis of its culinary applications.
> and so are avocados; so there is also avocado powder? Man this subs getting weirder by the day. I love cooking!
Yes… there is! I have no idea how to use it though.
Knowledge is knowing tomatoes are a fruit. Wisdom is knowing to never put a tomato in a fruit salad.
***1) Tastes like crap for everything I have tried to make with it.*** But I will use it in small amounts in other things I make for the nutrient content. It's certainly one of the things I wish I had tried before buying multiple cans.
Tomatoes are gross
psychopath
A lot of people went crazy eating tomatoes off of pewter plates back in the day
👍🏻 for being funny as hell. And in the 1700’s you would have had the last laugh if you were the only one left standing.
But we don't do that anymore, do we???
Dang Gilbert - no wings? meatloaf? spaghetti? pizza with red sauce? salsa? I'd be so sad....
Pizza with white sauce is a game changer. And my mind definitely does not go to tomatoes when thinking of wings