[hinkley]

> Vitamin C can be destroyed by heat and light. High-heat cooking temperatures or prolonged cook times can break down the vitamin. Because it is water-soluble, the vitamin can also seep into cooking liquid and be lost if the liquids are not eaten.

In "The Terror" (A supernatural horror story by Dan Simmons, set in the lost Franklin expedition) it is raw meat that saves the indigenous people from scurvy. Which is probably not too inaccurate.