Frozen Or Fresh - Which Fruits And Vegetables Are More Useful?
Author: Mark Velov
Time for reading: ~1
minutes
Last Updated:
August 08, 2022
Scientific research reveals the lack of significant differences in taste and usefulness between frozen and fresh fruits and vegetables.
Frozen fruits and vegetables do not look very good when thawed and many believe, judging by their appearance, that they lose too many of their nutrients in the process. This leaves the fresh ones as more nutritious and useful. Is this true?
Mass sales of frozen foods began in the 1920s, with Clarence Birdie pioneering the field. He copied the technology of quick freezing from the Inuit, who stored their food for long periods of time without losing its flavor. Freezing as quickly as possible prevents the formation of large ice crystals in food, which tear the cells of food tissues and deprive them of their taste and many useful properties.
Nowadays, the technology is highly advanced, the most commonly used blanching before flash-freezing . No chemicals are used in the processes to treat the products.
Most people worry that freezing leads to a loss of many nutrients and usefulness of the products, but do not pay attention to the fact that fresh fruits and vegetables also lose a lot of them. Peas, for example, lose more than 50% of their available vitamin C 24 to 48 hours after harvest.
During a study at the University of California, scientists studied the nutritional qualities of various fresh and frozen vegetables and fruits (corn, broccoli, spinach, carrots, peas, green beans, strawberries, blackberries, etc.). No significant differences were found in the quality of the food, its concentration of nutrients, vitamins, minerals or their usefulness.
Some substances are even more common in frozen products. Compared to fresh produce, vitamin C levels were significantly higher in frozen corn, beans and blackberries. Fresh peas contain more vitamin B than frozen, with broccoli the opposite is true.
The amount of dietary fiber and bioavailable minerals does not change significantly between fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables.
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