Nutrition = Vegetables

[JAK]

I do short hikes most so I am not all that worried about vitamins and minierals, but I would like to do a thru-hike some day, where I think that sort of thing might matter. So my question is about vitamins and minerals, specifically those that might not be found in normal hiking food. Wondering what the solutions might be for vitamins and minerals. Take vitamin A as perhaps a best example. How do you get vitamin A while hiking for extended periods?

1. Carrots and other veggies. Too Heavy ?
2. Dehydrated Veggies. Does it kill some vitamins ?
3. Teas - Which vitamins and minerals? Which teas?
4. Foraging - what are wild sources of vitamin A ?
5. Vitamin supplements - too easy ?
6. Eat lots of vegetables at resupply towns - too infrequent?

I'm guessing a combination of 4 and 5 works well, and maybe 2.
I know vitamin C is available from foraging - bark teas and stuff.
I am sure vitamin A is available, but I am not sure what plants its in.

Any other vitamins and minerals not normally found in normal hiking food?
Any favourite dehydrated vegetables from the vitamins and minerals perspective?

p.s. I found this.
http://www.edibleplants.com/wepnut_frames.htm

Not all fields are filled out. Wood Sorrel, for example, which we have a lot of in the woods here has both Vitamin A and Vitamin C, but the table doesn't say how much Vitamin C it contains, even though I know it has plenty. Wood Sorrel is toxic in large quantities because of the oxalyis acid can interfere with digestion, but you would have to eat quite a bit. So it is safe to eat for the taste and the vitamins, but you don't want to graze all day on the stuff. Dandelions also have lots of Vitamin A, and Vitamin C also. I don't see that much in the woods though, mostly on my lawn. About 100g or 2 cups of just about any green stuff that is edible should give you enough Vitamin A and most of your Vitamin C for the day. Still thats a lot of foraging and I am not sure I would eat that much wood sorrel anyway. It's a nice taste while hiking, but I wouldn't stop and make a meal of it. Dehydrated carrots?

What is a good vitamin filled soup to eat while hiking?

http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/11207.html
Dandelions: 2 cups = 110g = 50cal = 108% Daily Vitamin A & 64% Daily Vitamin C.

[dropkick]

Don't know how much vitamin A they contain but I do know they are high in C.

I chew on pine/fir needles, occasionally I also eat the new growth.
I know it's a strange thing to do and it's definitely an acquired taste, but I've been doing this since I was a child (I blame Euell Gibbons).
Making a tea from the needles used to be fairly popular in the old days.

WARNING: pregnant women shouldn't drink pine needle tea as it could cause them to abort

I also eat rose hips and any and all ripe berries that I recognize (raspberries, blueberries, chokecherries, huckleberries, strawberries, gooseberries, blackberries, etc.)

But mainly I take daily vitamins and drink my Tang in the morning.

[JAK]

I like dragging the dew off of spruce needles as I hike also. Refreshing.

[CoyoteWhips]

A lot of commercial dried produce is dehydrated at high temperatures that destroys much of the nutrition. Low temperature home drying brings you better quality.

I like tea.

[Rosaleen]

Hey, CoyoteWhips-

SGT Rock isn't running a dating service and that is not what I'm looking for, being a married woman and all, but I took a look at your journal and realilzed that we are neightbors. Hopefully Sarge and Dixi are OK with promoting hiking partners.

I would really like to find more hiking friends around here (Central MA) and get together for some hikes/backpacks. Reading your journal, I was tickled to see the Midstate Trail and Muddy Pond Shelter mentioned.

Send me a PM here. Maybe we can meet for coffee and discuss hiking sometime.

To get this back on the food topic-Lower drying temps is great for fruits, veggies, and leathers. If you can dry under 115 F, most of the enzymes can be preserved. Store these in vacuum sealed jars, away from light, and try to use quickly, as the enzymes, while good for us, also help break down the foods. Meats need to be dehydrated at higher temps, not lower ones, so I try to dry these separately from non-meats.

Regards,

Rosaleen