MAX FACTS
growing tips, news and trivia
Frozen Better
Than Fresh?
A study by the University of
Georgia shows that some frozen
produce contains more vitamins than
fresh produce. Ronald Pegg, associate
professor of food science and technology, and
his team, looked at selected vitamin and mineral
content of blueberries, strawberries, broccoli, green
beans, corn, spinach, cauliflower and green peas. They
analyzed the nutrient value of the produce on the purchase
and after it had been stored in a household refrigerator for five
days. They then analyzed nutritional content of the same fruits
and vegetables that had been packaged after freezing. “Vitamins
and nutrients degrade over time, and we found that frozen fruit
and vegetables may offer more nutrition than fresh when storage
is taken into account,” Ronald says. “Fruit and vegetables are
going to have a different nutrient profile after storage than they
had when they were taken from the field. They expire, they age
and they break down over time. There are oxidative stresses,
microbial stresses and enzymatic stresses.”
(Source: freshplaza.com)
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Maximum Yield USA | March 2014
Increased Solar Energy in California
It took the state of California nearly 30 years to reach 1,000
megawatts of rooftop solar energy, but in 2013, that number
doubled to just over 2,000 megawatts. The previous record
for rooftop solar occurred in 2012 with 500 megawatts. “If
California continues to grow its rooftop solar market at its 2013
pace, the state may very well top 5,000 megawatts in 2014,”
writes Bernadette Del Chiaro in Solar Industry Magazine. While
California is the leader for solar power in the United States,
other states are also doing well. Bloomberg recently reported
that about 200,000 US homes and businesses added
rooftop solar in the past two years
alone—about three gigawatts of
power and enough to replace
four or five conventionally
sized coal plants.
(Source: treehugger.com)