Cooking: Keep The Vitamins, Not The Fat

Comments

Usually best at preserving nutrients in vegetables because it cooks so fast and requires no added water - provided you don't overcook.

Little nutritional loss when reheating leftovers or cooking frozen foods.

Examples

Cabbage and broccoli lose only 10-20% of Vitamin C when microwaved vs. 27-62% lost when boiled in lots of water.

Microwaved spinach loses only minimal amounts of folacin (a B vitamin) vs. 23% lost when boiled.

Comments

Requires short cooking time and little water, so good at retaining nutrients. Generally vegetables lose 50% less minerals during steaming than boiling

Examples

Carrots lose 17-30% Vitamin C.

Comments

To preserve nutrients:

• Use little water
• Place food in water only when it's at full boil.
• Cover pot or pat (to speed up cooking)
• Save water for soups and gravies.

Examples

Green beans lose 72% of Vitamin C when french cut and boiled vs. 46% when cooked whole.

Broccoli loses 25% of Vitamin C when boiled for 2 minutes vs. 33% after 11 minutes.

Unpeeled potatoes lose little Vitamin C and folacin during boiling vs. up to 25% lost of peeled.

Comments

The higher the temperature and the longer the cooking time, the greater the vitamin loss.

Examples

Beef cooked at 450 degrees loses 53% of thiamin vs. 30% loss at 300 degrees.

Comments

Conventional frying at high temperatures destroys heat-sensitive vitamins.

Examples

Most fried vegetables lose 25-85% of folacin.

French fried potatoes lose up to 90% of Vitamin C.