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My original post was inspired by a discussion I had with someone recently. That person said that 1/3 of the nutritive value is lost if the vegetable is frozen. However, that person did not state what temperature, or for how long it would be frozen to have that occur. And that person could not provide me with any evidence or references on where they got that information.
If any of you can help elaborate or direct me to some solid info on this subject, that would be great.
For me it is a matter of economy to freeze some of my produce to keep it as fresh as possible for as long as possible, until I am able to consume it. Sometimes I am able to find a bargain on something, such as an organic pumpkin that is ripe. And I can not consume it right away. So I chopped it into pieces, put them in a ziplock bag, and put it in the freezer. Later I look forward to adding some pieces to smoothie drinks, making a raw pumpkin pudding, or perhaps raw pumpkin pie. And the leafy vegetables seem to blend better(in my oster blender) when frozen.
I wouldn't know where to find a study, not sure if there even are any out there. There may be some nutritional loss, but home-frozen is certainly better than commercially frozen as supposedly they are blanched beforehand. Who knows how much is actually altered, I agree it is very frustrating when people will give you some kind of percentage or number as if fact but can't back it up. Don't listen to them - if you need to freeze your stuff it's fine. You know it's not as optimal as fresh but obviously better than cooked/steamed veggies.
I saw something on 20/20 about how a lot of produce is being flash frozen, literally, on the property it's picked at, in the warehouses of course. This holds in more nutrients than people think. Stuff is being frozen within brief hours of being picked.
Does this help you any?
:) H
Raw Curls wrote
"commercially frozen as supposedly they are blanched beforehand"
That is interesting. I had not heard about that before. I wonder how that is doen, such as if it is done after being frozen or before being frozen. I wonder if that is an industry standard or only done on particular items. And if so, which ones. And if that is done, would it be problematic to eat them without washing them. I have figured that they were washed before packing. And I wonder if the vegetables are listed as "organic", would they also be exposed to bleaching during the packing process.
If I am not mistaken they are blanced before had to stop them from turning colors... I think I read that somewhere or other...
Blanching is an industry standard to kill the enzymes, stopping the produce from maturing further... It is also a home canning and freezing standard... You can research any home food prep book for the recommended times for each vegetable... Basically you dip the produce into boiling water allow to sit, drain and dip into iced water, drain and bag then freeze... Sometimes the produce is air dried before freezing... Sometime the produce is frozen in liquid to prevent freezer burn...
This summer I did put some homegrown corn in canning jars, vacuum sealed them and put them in the freezer... So far the corn has been wonderful in my dehydrated corn chips...
Blanching is NOT done to fruits, Thank goodness!!!
I guess I will have to start buying my veggies fresh from now on. And then clean and freeze them myself..
I purchase an Ozone veg/fruit bath device. It apparently adds ozone into the water. The manual claims that it creates "O3" in the water. anyone have any info on the ozone veggie bath device? Also, it has an auto spinner. It spins a basket while cleaning and drying,
I will make a proper post later with specific info on the brand, for feedback.
Please describe how you vacume seal your canning jars.
Thanks.
If the divice you mention is producing O3 then this is not good! O3 is toxic to the respiratory tract!
Synap, if you do a search for vacuum seal you will find several threads from a while back that address this issue. Here are two with a good bit of information.
http://www.goneraw.com/node/17530
http://www.goneraw.com/node/15142