Frozen vegetables: all the answers to your questions
We must eat lots of vegetables, we all agree: but, first of all, we must find them, prepare them, preserve them. Even the most willing can be discouraged at the sight of the shriveled courgettes bought the day before yesterday or a ton of green beans to scorn. .. But the solution is, and there is frozen food at the counter! Practical to store and always at hand in the freezer, frozen vegetables have numerous advantages ...
- Why do frozen foods contain more vitamins than fresh vegetables?
- · What does freezing consist of?
- · Do you really save time by using frozen vegetables?
- · The myths to dispel about frozen vegetables
Why do frozen foods contain more vitamins than fresh vegetables?
A maximum of 5 hours pass between harvesting and freezing. When you buy vegetables at the market, they are fresh, sure, but they lose half of the vitamins they contain if they are not eaten within 24 hours. To take full advantage of their qualities, they should be consumed immediately, as soon as they are harvested: which is impossible unless you have your own vegetable garden!
That is why frozen vegetables contain many more vitamins of the kilo of beans that we buy on Sunday morning but prepare on Thursday evening ...
And then, we find them all year round, which allows us to cook a peperonata in the middle of winter without having to buy imported and very expensive vegetables. The origin of the vegetables is written on the envelope, just read. Attention, however: never refreeze a frozen product.
See also
What does freezing consist of?
Freezing it is a process that consists in bringing the products to -18 ° in a very short time. The rapidity of cooling ensures that the nutritional qualities are preserved.
In freezing, on the other hand, the lowering of the temperature is relatively slow: it usually takes 24 hours for the food to be completely frozen. The formation of large ice crystals causes plant cells to burst and the nutritional values of food can be altered. To freeze well, you need to make sure that the food is as "moist" as possible.
Do you really save time by using frozen vegetables?
1 kg of frozen peppers = 1 kg of peppers used. It is not the same with 1 kg of fresh peppers, because you will need to cut them, remove the stalk and the seeds.
Another plus: I buy 1 kg but only need 200 g? I take the necessary amount from the bag and leave the rest in the freezer.
And, above all, frozen vegetables do not suffer the same price changes as fresh products and are available all year round.
From the point of view of the preparation time: already cut, peeled, blanched, they can be used directly! Just heat or defrost them (in the oven or microwave), or add them directly, depending on the recipes.
It is possible to find frozen vegetables alone or mixed, cooked or not ... you are spoiled for choice!
The myths about frozen vegetables to dispel
>They definitely added dyes, to make the peas so green and the carrots so orange ...
FALSE: vegetables can be blanched and it is this procedure that fixes the natural colors and gives them greater relief. Colors are never given by dyes. They are the optimal expression of the natural pigments of these vegetables.
>When you buy canned or frozen vegetables, you don't know what's inside.
FALSE: on the labels we find a lot of information
- The sales denomination, which includes the name of the vegetable with, in some cases, the methods of preparation, presentation and size.
- The net quantity for frozen foods, the capacity of the package, the total weight and the drained weight in grams.
- The name and address of the manufacturer.
- The country of origin when the product does not come from a country of the European Union.
- The ingredients, listed in descending order of importance.
- Preparation tips.
- Nutritional information.
