How to preserve nutrients in fruits and vegetables

Mrs Sarah Abagai Head Dietetics Departments, National Hospital says you lose nutrients immediately you touch a vegetable or a fruits. “There are different classes of nutrients contained in fruits and vegetable. There are those that are volatile, so they dissipate with the air. There are those that are stable. They can remain. Those are like […]

Mrs Sarah Abagai Head Dietetics Departments, National Hospital says you lose nutrients immediately you touch a vegetable or a fruits. “There are different classes of nutrients contained in fruits and vegetable. There are those that are volatile, so they dissipate with the air. There are those that are stable. They can remain. Those are like the minerals and probably the fat soluble vitamins. There are those that are heat stable, these are fat soluble vitamin A, D, E, K. These are in a wide range of vegetables.”

She describes it further. “When you begin to cut vegetables the volatile ones like Vitamin C will begin to dissipate. When you go to the point of washing, you lose more vitamins. When you cook for long, you would have lost everything of those volatile ones. Folic acid is part of these volatile subtance.” Abagai says.

She explains how to retain nutrients when cooking vegetables. “If you want to retain many nutrients in fruits and vegetable, wash your vegetable before cutting. Wash them under running water and steep them in another sanitizing solution. May be water and salt. Rinse it in this solution and you can now cut. It is very advisable to process vegetable very close to the end of cooking. So that as soon as you finish you doesn’t have to keep. You put into the pot. And it should not last up to three minutes, you remove it. If you are cooking with your pot opened, you will lose more vitamins. The idea of cutting vegetables and putting in the fridge is a waste. If you must steam your vegetables then you need very little water. Because when you cook in an enclosed environment, you are able to conserve more nutrients. When you put in more water than you need, you lose more nutrients.” Abagai explains.

To ensure that you make the most of your vegetables, follow these steps.

1) Avoid washing or cutting vegetables before you are ready to use them.

2) Rinse quickly under a running tap rather than soak.

3) Use a sharp knife when cutting fresh vegetables; bruising vegetables can deplete them of valuable vitamins.

4) Cut off only the inedible parts of vegetables. Sometimes the best nutrients are found in the skin (or just below the skin and in the leaves).

5) Avoid peeling vegetables such as potatoes until after cooking.

6) Try steaming; too much boiling can leach out the nutrients into the water.

7) If you must boil vegetables, cook them with only a small amount of water.

8) Use a lid to avoid steaming away precious vitamins.

9) Avoid cutting vegetables up into small pieces. Prepare them whole, if possible.