Notes to keep fruits and vegetables the most nutritious

Many housewives want to keep vegetables, fresh fruits and wash them, then put them in the refrigerator, accidentally making them ripen faster. Here are suggestions to keep the most nutrients in fruits and vegetables.

Do not wash immediately

In most cases, washing vegetables will stimulate spoilage and accelerate mold formation. Therefore, you should only wash vegetables and fruits right before eating, do not wash and put them in the refrigerator a few days after eating. Washing removes protective layers, making vegetables and fruits ripen faster, especially legumes.

Tomatoes will be best stored in the natural environment.(Photo: WP).

Pack gently and separate each type

The closer you get to other foods in the refrigerator, the more quickly the vegetables will wilt and rot. Fruits stored in one place will ripen early and damage the surrounding vegetables. Especially apples can turn green leafy vegetables into brown leaves.

Therefore, you should separate fruits and vegetables, store them in different compartments of the refrigerator and do not pack too tightly, remove all kinds of ties or rubber bands that sellers use to tie vegetables. Instead, pack vegetables gently with paper, plastic bags, cloth bags, or glass containers.

Besides, it should be noted that tomatoes will be best stored in the natural environment. Storage in plastic containers will ripen and ripen tomatoes faster.

Avoid storing fruits and vegetables in tightly sealed bags because they will suffocate and speed up rot

Most vegetables are best preserved in the refrigerator compartment. Garlic, onions, shallots, potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin are best preserved in cool and dark environments.

Buy fruits and vegetables directly from local farmers

Buying fruits and vegetables directly from farmers will reduce transit time and storage time, thus helping the product retain more nutrients.

Buy vegetables on the front shelves (with light exposure), not the rear shelf

Another interesting finding by US Department of Agriculture researchers showed that within 24 hours of exposure to light at fruit and vegetable stalls, they were stored on the front shelves with higher nutritional value. that vegetable is left on the rear shelves. These types of items when put into the tested shelves have the same nutrient content. A number of essential nutrients such as folate, beta - carotene, vitamin K are significantly higher in vegetable shelves exposed to light, similarly high levels of lutein, beta - carotene and vitamin K than.

Vegetables stored on the front shelves have a higher nutritional value than the same vegetables but are placed on the rear shelves.

If you don't plan to eat right away, buy frozen fruits

Comparative studies of frozen fruits and fresh fruits have shown that frozen fruits can retain more nutrients than fresh fruits, provided they are frozen immediately after harvest.

Therefore, if you do not intend to eat the fruits and vegetables that you are about to buy and plan to put in the refrigerator for a few days before eating, it is best to buy frozen vegetables.

Buy young vegetables

In general, young fruits and vegetables will have more nutrients than older vegetables. Research has shown that young leaves will have many biological active ingredients and higher nutrient content than older leaves. The same is true for cruciferous vegetables.

Preserved intact

If you cut fruits and vegetables, then preserve them, they will lose 10-25% of antioxidants (such as vitamin C and carotenoids) in about 5-6 days, because they are exposed to oxygen. Similarly, avoid cutting vegetables because doing so will release substances that stimulate the process of spoilage and rot. Cutting vegetables into bags and storing them in the refrigerator seems very convenient, but this inadvertently destroys nutrients and even stimulates the degradation of food. Ideally, we should only cut vegetables right before eating.

Buy mushrooms that are exposed to light

Traditional fungi usually contain very little or no vitamin D, but those grown under UV light can turn an endogenous plant sterol (ergosterol) into vitamin D. We can also expose fungus at home, let them be exposed to light.

Avoid cutting vegetables because doing so will release substances that stimulate the process of spoilage and rot.

Think carefully before cooking vegetables

Cooking can destroy carotenoids with antioxidant effects like beta-carotene, lycopene, and lutein. Boiling will make these substances more soluble in water and overcooked (in any way) also depriving nutrients of destroyed cells.

In order to keep the most nutrients we should prepare them by steaming, stir-frying or frying them and closing them tightly when possible. In general, nutrients will be retained more if food is less exposed to water, short cooking time and less exposed to heat.

Do not wash nuts too thoroughly, such as rinsing thoroughly (unless instructions for use are required). Excessive washing / washing can lose about 25% of vitamin B1.

Drink fruit juice as soon as you are done, not saved

When you prepare the juice, it is best to drink it immediately after it is done. Cold pressing of juice will retain more nutrients than a smoothie.