The New Complete Book of Food



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r Raisins

(Currants)

See also Grapes.

Nutritional Profile

Energy value (calories per serving): High

Protein: Low

Fat: Low

Saturated fat: Low

Cholesterol: None

Carbohydrates: High

Fiber: Very high

Sodium: Low (fresh or dried fruit)

High (dried fruit treated with sodium sulfur compounds)

Major vitamin contribution: B vitamins

Major mineral contribution: Iron, potassium

About the Nutrients in this Food

Raisins are dried grapes. Raisins with seeds big enough to see or feel with

your tongue are dried Muscat grapes. Raisins whose seeds are barely per-

ceptible are dried Thompson grapes. Raisins with no seeds at all are dried

sultana grapes. “Currants” are dried, dark-skinned black Corinth grapes.

All raisins are high-carbohydrate food, rich in sugars, with moderate

amounts of dietary fiber (insoluble cellulose and lignin in the skin; soluble

pectins in the fruit) and small amounts of vitamin C and nonheme iron,

the inorganic form of iron found in plant foods.

One 1.5-ounce serving of seedless raisins has 1.6 g dietary fiber, 1 mg

vitamin C (less than 1 percent of the RDA for either a woman or a man),

and 0.8 mg iron (4 percent of the RDA for a woman, 10 percent of the RDA

for a man).

The Most Nutritious Way to Serve This Food

With meat or with a food rich in vitamin C. Nonheme iron is five times

less available to the body than heme iron, the organic form of iron found

in meat, fish, poultry, milk, and eggs. Eating raisins with meat or vitamin

C increases the amount you absorb because meat increase the secretion of