This chapter is entirely devoted to a thorough consideration of ascorbate or vitamin C as far as it is used in the curing of meat.
To introduce our chapter on Vitamin C, meet Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi.
This colourful Hungarian biochemist is one of the main characters in the discovery of this important vitamin.
He “studied medicine in Budapest and Cambridge and completed a doctorate with a thesis on vitamins, led by Hopkins. He worked as a professor at the universities of Pressburg, Prague, Berlin, Hamburg, Leiden and Groningen; in 1947 he settled in the United States, where he taught at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole and headed the Institute for Muscle Research.” (biografiasyvidas.com)
“In 1928 Szent-Györgyi isolated an organic reducing agent, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), present in oranges, lemons and cabbage; and actin, a protein found in muscle and myosin which allows muscle contraction. He also discovered that muscles use ATP to contract as an energy source.” (biografiasyvidas.com)
“For the discovery of vitamin C and for his work on combustion processes of nutrients inside the cells, he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1937.” (biografiasyvidas.com)
Two quotes by Dr. Szent-Györgyi
“A vitamin is a substance that makes you ill if you don’t eat it.”
“So I set out to study the oxidation system in the potato, which, if damaged, causes the plant to turn brown. I did this in the hope of discovering, through these studies, the key to the understanding of adrenal function.”
The story of bacon is the most fascinating story ever told!
Images
Picture 1: Dr. Albert Szent-Györgyi from http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/s/szent.htm