The Importance of Producing Nutrient Dense Foods and the Value to the Grower and the Consumer – Part 2

The hand-held Brix meter was originally designed for farmers to measure nutrient levels of their produce and when to harvest crops. This precision instrument (refractometer) has a drop or two of the sap (juice) of the produce placed on the glass and held up to the light to read the Brix scale of zero to 32, the higher the Brix reading, the higher the nutrient levels.

True Nutrient Measurements

If you have ever wondered about the real nutritional value of the apple you are eating or the lettuce and tomato salad the family will have tonight, wonder no more. The Brix meter can measure a wide range of fruits, vegetables, grasses, grains, legumes; anything that juice can be squeezed from. You become the expert at true nutrient content and can compare supermarket food to non-supermarket food, such as home grown fruits and vegetables, or growing in mineral- rich or mineral-deficient soils.

Things to know about your brix meter:

• Total dissolved solids (or Brix) are measured with the Brix meter.
• Brix readings differ from one species to another. (See attached chart)
• Freshness since picked also affects nutrient levels.
• The number on its scale indicates the level of balance of nutrient uptake and complexing of sugars or proteins in the photosynthesis factory – the leaf.

If Brix is low, even after several hours of sunshine, some element(s) are missing in the photosynthesis factory. Ions, if present, have not been “complexed” into sugars or proteins.

• The Brix meter does not require batteries for a reading, just light.

BEWARE: False readings can be obtained, for example, with shop-bought orange juice. This can be made from concentrates in various dilutions that do not provide the full nutrient picture of real orange juice.

 

Ref: Bionatural website which no longer exists