Hints for preserving protective nutrients in vegetables
- Cook with fresh vegetables and herbs whenever possible
- Do not store fresh foods for long periods (a week at most).
- Store them in a cool, dark place.
- Keep pieces as large as possible when chopping/slicing.
- When cooking vegetables, minimise both cooking time and cooking water to reduce vitamin losses. Vitamin losses with cooking vary from about 10 per cent with steaming or micro-waving to about 50 per cent with boiling. Most of the vitamins lost are the water soluble ones. The preferred cooking method should be micro-waving (with little water), followed by steaming, stir-frying and lastly, boiling. If boiling, add food only when the water is boiling and boil in the smallest amount of water possible. Do not soak vegetables before cooking.
- Do not use copper pots or utensils as they can increase losses of some vitamins, particularly vitamin C.
- Use cooking water and liquid from canned foods in sauces, gravies etc.
- Do not use baking powder to preserve vegetable colour during cooking as it increases vitamin losses.
Water soluble vitamins are the ones that are destroyed by cooking and dissolve into water. Maximum losses during cooking vary from 10% for vitamin B-12 to 100% for more unstable vitamins, such as folate and vitamin C. Fat soluble vitamins are more hardy and don’t dissolve in cooking water. |
