I’ve been reading up on the ‘proper’ way to cook vegetables to get nutrients out of them. I have some questions about these things that I hope make sense.
If you boil a vegetable, you must consume the water to get the nutrients out of it. Makes sense… but the idea behind this is water soluble vitamins get sucked into the water. So does anyone know if the these vitamins form new, different (not the same vitamin) compounds/solvents with water? or are they more like salt where they’re just finely mixed in??
How are vitamins and minerals effected by heat? Typically the ‘proper’ way of cooking keeps the vitamins in the vegetable, but does the heat break bonds and tear the vitamin apart thus negating it’s positive effects?
Over time, a vegetable (any food really…) will get rotten and be poisonous for consumption. Do the vitamins live through this process? I guess yes on this one cause people use dead stuff for fertilizer all the time.
To sum up, my question is how robust are vitamins in heat, over time?
Sometimes, certain nutrients aren’t available UNTIL you cook a vegetable; lycopene, for example.
Generally, cooking temps aren’t high enough to alter vitamins, but it does occur to certain phytochemicals. That’s why it’s best to eat a combo of raw and cooked vegetables.
As far as rotten food, many vitamins remain, but in general, the longer the vegetable is off the vine, the lower the amount of nutrients. The alternative is flash frozen vegetables, which are frozen when very fresh. They retain lots of vitamins.
Oh, and as far as fertilizer, don’t think of that in terms of providing vitamins to plants. We fertilize primarily to provide nitrogen, which is one of the six major chemical components of life: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur.
[quote]TC wrote:
Sometimes, certain nutrients aren’t available UNTIL you cook a vegetable; lycopene, for example.
Generally, cooking temps aren’t high enough to alter vitamins, but it does occur to certain phytochemicals. That’s why it’s best to eat a combo of raw and cooked vegetables.
As far as rotten food, many vitamins remain, but in general, the longer the vegetable is off the vine, the lower the amount of nutrients. The alternative is flash frozen vegetables, which are frozen when very fresh. They retain lots of vitamins.
Oh, and as far as fertilizer, don’t think of that in terms of providing vitamins to plants. We fertilize primarily to provide nitrogen, which is one of the six major chemical components of life: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur.[/quote]
Would there be any benefit to drinking the water you boil your veg in?
The thought crossed my mind recently. I make mashed cauliflower and broccoli and they need to be thoroughly boiled to mash properly and I was wondering if they lost a lot of nutritional value in the process.
I know I may be overthinking things but it seemed like a good thread to put the question out there!
Diddy, sure, in a perfect world, drinking the liquid wouldn’t be a bad idea. Maybe a little extreme, but hey, you’d certainly be getting your nutrients. Have you considered using a steamer, though? Several companies make pretty slick ones with timers. I use mine 5 out of 7 days every week. It’s great.
Lol, my Mother used to drink the water that cooked out of veggies when I was younger. It always amazes me when someone goes out of their way to do something a little ‘extreme’, but doesn’t pay any mind to basic healthy eating habits or regular exercise.
