I boil broccoli, carrots, and an onion in chicken stock until they are soft. I then add spinach and blend the soup. This is an easy and convenient way for me to get several vegetables into my diet on a regular basis throughout the day (I don’t really like vegetables so this is much better than eating them raw).
I have been thinking about whether or not boiling the and blending the vegetables alters the molecular structure of the nutrients I would obtain from them. Am I losing nutritional value by preparing the vegetables in this way? Could you guys point me to some research papers that discuss this topic in depth?
Thanks
The nutrients people are most concerned about being lost in cooking, the water-soluble nutrients, will remain in the chicken stock; if you drink that you will still get the nutrients.
There may be some nutrients that are destroyed by heat though, but I do not know any off-hand.
You can multiply the retention factors found in this table:
Most of the important nutrients are included in the chart and it is classed by groups of food, for example I think you would use the code: 3456 11 VEG,ROOTS,ETC,BOILED,WATER USED on page 9 for the carrots. With the spinach, you lose 30% vitC and 25% folate, not too bad.
Note frog and turtle on page 13!