One of the things we want to learn more about on the farm is how to improve or increase the nutrient-density of the foods we grow.
We all want to eat the right foods, but the quality of the food available to us is probably not as good for us as food grown twenty or fifty years ago.
If you've peeled an apple, like we have, and it tastes like a potato, then the apple isn't as good for you as one that taste like an apple.
We sometimes use a refractometer on the farm to test the sugar content of the produce or crops we grow. By squeezing the sap (juice) from two apples and measuring the brix content of the sap in each one, you can compare the amount of fructose (fruit sugar) in the apples, and you can select the best one. A higher sugar content indicates that an apple is more nutritious.
Another tool for measuring food crop quality is the Bionutrient Meter. The manufacturer of the Bionutrient Meter claims it measures the antioxidant and polyphenol content of crops. We haven't purchased a Bionutrient Meter, but we are following the technology to see if how useful and valuable it will be.