Frequently Asked Questions
Fresh vegetables do not contain preservatives: blanching destroys certain harmful enzymes, preventing them from developing further. The good side of freezing products is that vegetables must be frozen immediately after harvesting, which means they retain their nutritional value. In that case, you don’t have to worry about how many days the peas were stored in a crate before you bought it.
Fresh vegetables do not contain preservatives: blanching destroys certain harmful enzymes, preventing them from developing further. The good side of freezing products is that vegetables must be frozen immediately after harvesting, which means they retain their nutritional value. In that case, you don’t have to worry about how many days the peas were stored in a crate before you bought it.
Blanching improves the natural color of vegetables and makes them more intense. Colorants do not generate the deep green color of garden peas or the intense orange of carrots. Instead, the color comes from the natural pigments in this vegetable coming to the surface.
Blanching improves the natural color of vegetables and makes them more intense. Colorants do not generate the deep green color of garden peas or the intense orange of carrots. Instead, the color comes from the natural pigments in this vegetable coming to the surface.
Fruits and vegetables are made up of between 70% and 90% water, and once harvested, they quickly lose moisture and are also quickly attacked by microbes. Today, new techniques are used, such as blanching vegetables before they are quick-frozen. Chemicals are not involved in this process, so if you are worried about whether frozen fruits and vegetables will lose nutrients, remember that even when standing, vegetables lose their freshness. For example, peas lose just over half of their vitamin C in the first 24 to 48 hours after harvest.
If you buy 1 kg of fresh frozen vegetables, you can use it completely. However, if you buy fresh vegetables, you always lose as you cut off unusable, inedible parts. The chart below shows how much of fresh vegetables you can’t use, but pay for it.
Storing food in a cool place is the best to extend their shelf life. Now there is no reason not to freeze food and preserve it that way. To make sure thawed food is as fresh, nutritious, and delicious as it was before freezing, there are some rules you need to follow:
- Food must be frozen at the peak degree of freshness.
- Remember that liquids expand at low temperatures, so it is important to leave plenty of space in the freezer when freezing beverages.
- The most important thing is to pay attention to how long certain foods can stay in the refrigerator before they lose their taste or become inedible.
- When it comes to bread and desserts, baked bread and rolls can be safely used after two to three months.
- Unbaked bread and frozen cakes can only stand in the freezer for one month.
- Note that some foods do not freeze well, such as eggs in shells and potatoes.
- Foods that can stay for six to eight months in the freezer are baked cakes and baked fruit, while cake dough can only be left for three months.
- Unbaked pieces of fruit can be frozen for up to four months, while pumpkins can only be frozen for two months.
- Cheesecake can stay in freeze for up to three months, while muffins can be eaten after a year if well frozen.
- Pancakes should not stay in freeze for more than three months.
Although fresh fruits and vegetables are commonly considered incomparably healthier and more nutritious than frozen, some foods are an exception. Based on the latest research, it is better to freeze the following foods before use.
Corn
In frozen corn, vision loss preventing lutein, zeaxanthin, and carotenoids levels increase.
Many believe that corn overloads the body with excess calories, which is entirely incorrect. It is rich in carbohydrates and low in fat, so it is a good source of quickly available energy.
Peas
Freezing peas increases their antioxidant activity.
Peas also have ingredients that help prevent cancer, with vitamin C dominating as an antioxidant. It protects DNA from damage, helps the body get rid of toxic ingredients from the environment, enhances immune functions, and inhibits the production of carcinogenic substances in the body, such as nitrosamines created in cigarette or barbecue smoke.
Spinach
Frozen spinach contains more calcium than freshly picked. Spinach loses everything nourishing in it in just a week of refrigeration. Frozen spinach will keep nutrients for weeks, so it is therefore recommended in this form. Spinach is an ideal vegetable as it is a superior fighter against cancer, reduces high blood pressure, is great for bones, reduces the risk of heart disease, reduces diabetes, reduces the risk of anemia, preserves vision, protects against aging, protects skin and is excellent for pregnant women.
Berries
Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries are great antioxidants. Still, they lose their nutrients only a few minutes after being harvested and then often stand on the shelf of a store for days, and when you buy them, they no longer have their original value. With frozen fruit, the story is different; it retains its full nutritional value.
Frozen blueberries do not lose their nutritional value compared to fresh ones. Research has shown that blueberries contain the most antioxidants of all fresh fruits and vegetables tested so far. Antioxidants help the immune system by neutralizing free radicals that enter the body through pesticides or smoke.
Cherries
Frozen cherries contain more cancer-fighting anthocyanins than the fresh variant of this fruit. In addition, cherries remove water from the body and thus relieve the heart and bloodstream and activate the liver and kidneys.
Carrots
You have probably noticed that carrots become rubbery after only a few days of refrigeration, which reduces their beta carotene levels. Therefore, a better variant of carrots is frozen.
Broccoli
As a superfood from the cauliflower family, broccoli is rich in vitamins A and C and fiber. But the nutritional value of broccoli decreases after only one day of refrigeration. That is why it is healthier to buy it frozen.