Here at George, it has come to our attention that though scurvy was a dangerous nutrient deficiency amongst sailors in the 13th century, modern day society has produced another cohort of individuals at dire risk of developing the disease. We call this cohort "the uni students", and they are a high risk group for similar reasons to those faced by 13th century sailors. These are:
- Long stints in areas where no fresh produce can be grown, and for a longer time than it can be stored (i.e. nightclubs followed by hangover bed-therapy)
- Lack of understanding of proper nutrition (the food pyramid is entirely constructed of two-minute noodles, often served uncooked)
- Duties that take precedence over preparation of a proper meal (full timetable of clubbing)
- Mistaking alcohol for a multivitamin
So you've got scurvy. What is it?
As we've said, scurvy was the "in" disease during the 13th century. It was the disease to have. It's a lack of Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid (which literally means "acid without scurvy"). It is characterised by a feeling of general discomfort and fatigue, followed by mood swings, bruising of the skin, gum disease and looseness of the teeth. Additionally, the ill person may experience death.
The ill person may never have experienced
one of these, however.
Fortunately, scurvy is very treatable. By returning to a normal Vitamin C intake, symptoms can be completely abated. However, some students are unaware as to where Vitamin C may be found. Nutrition information for instant noodles indicates that you can't get Vitamin C out of this staple (but you can get scurvy). Here are some examples of where you might find ascorbic acid in the wild:
Citrus fruits such as the mandarin have a high
Vitamin C content and also better for you
than two-minute noodles.
Broccoli also is better for you than
two minute noodles and will
prevent your inevitable demise
from scurvy.
Pineapples. Eat them.
Having made a Vitamin C-themed field trip to the fruit market, George decided that making his own orange juice would be a fun experiment in nutrition. Orange juice is a kind of juice that is sometimes made from oranges and can't be found in a bottle marked 'cruiser', just so we're clear.
We're gonna need a bigger bowl.
Having sufficiently armed ourselves with oranges, we employed the services of the juicing insert in the rocket blender in the cupboard. It can pretty much be used for anything, and last week when we went through 2kg of cheese we had to fly it to the moon to get some more. Once when the police came over and asked to see the garage we found the bone-cruncher insert particularly useful. I would recommend its addition to any kitchen and penguin-smuggling operation.
This is what the inside of an orange looks like,
just FYI.
I remember Today Tonight or similar TV dribble doing an expose on orange juice once. It was all, "Your orange juice is older than your grandpa and there's no actual orange in it." I feel like replying, "well, duh. If there was any actual orange in it, they'd be using it as currency with gold for five cent pieces."
That's because 10 oranges make about one sip of
orange juice. Or something like that.
Ok. Slight exaggeration. About half the oranges ended up making an acceptable amount of Georgian Orange Drink (GOD), also known as the Cure for Scurvy.
Fresh fruit. You should try it sometime.
