Can Leaving Mushrooms in the Sun Really Increase Their Vitamin D Content?

Is it better to peel If peeled, damaged

cells go into defensive
OR SCRUB? mode and quickly use
up nutrient stores.
Sweet potato
nutrient store
Many of us have been taught to peel vegetables Vegetable skins contain
to remove dirt and bitter-tasting skin. vitamin C and other
valuable antioxidants.
Peeling the skin of a
Traditional advice was to peel tough, dirt-ingrained, sweet potato removes
bitter vegetable skins. Today, however, many up to 35 percent of its
vitamin C content.
vegetables have been bred to be fleshier and
thinner-skinned, making the skins far more palatable.
Research shows that the skin contains a host of
beneficial nutrients, including antioxidant plant
chemicals called phytochemicals. The pigments that
give vegetable peel its color are an indicator of the
antioxidants it contains. Vegetables, such as carrots,
whose skins are the same color as the flesh, have
antioxidants spread throughout the flesh, so lose
fewer vitamins if peeled. But in most vegetables,
nutrients are concentrated just beneath the skin.
Peeling vegetables has the benefit of removing
more pesticide residues than scrubbing, but the
amount of pesticides on vegetables is usually tiny
and many of them are destroyed with cooking. In sweet potatoes, iron,
Overall, washing or gently scrubbing is the best potassium, and calcium
way to retain a vegetable’s goodness. lie just beneath the skin.

Can leaving mushrooms in the sun really

INCREASE THEIR VITAMIN D CONTENT?
Fungi have a unique nutritional profile, more akin to that of animals, and can supply important nutrients.

Mushrooms are fungi, and have a unique

MUSHROOM
flavor and a meat-like texture. They are
higher in protein than most fruits and SHIITAKE
vegetables, and contain amino acids that give
them an umami, savory flavor. Fungi also Effect of
OYSTER sunlight
contain vitamins D and B12, normally only
found in animal products. However, on mushrooms
This table shows the
mushrooms need UV light to make vitamin BUTTON
amount of vitamin D
D, and because they are typically grown generated by
different mushrooms
indoors, they contain little of the “sunshine” ABALONE left in sunlight for
vitamin. However, because mushrooms live 1 hour and 15
after harvesting, putting them out in strong minutes. Chopping
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% the mushrooms first
sunlight for at least 30 minutes will allow their maximizes vitamin D
INCREASE AFTER 1 HOUR AND 15 MINUTES IN SUNLIGHT
skin to create abundant vitamin D (see right). production.