Did you know that the way you store your produce can impact the nutritional value of the food?
The cooking process can also either increase or decrease nutrients!
The book Eating on the Wild Side by Jo Robinson provides information on several types of produce with tips on which ones to purchase at the store to how best to store the item and also how to cook it to increase the nutritional value. Here’s a list of some of her suggestions to increase your nutritional intake:
Carrots
At the store: Look for dark orange carrots, those have more beta-carotene. Carrots sold with their tops on are fresher and baby carrots are missing the most nutritious parts. Purple, yellow and red carrots can have more antioxidants than conventional orange carrots.
Storing: Can be stored for weeks without losing their food value. Put them in a sealed bag and store them in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator.
Cooking: Cooked carrots are more nutritious than raw carrots. Steam or bake whole carrots then cut them after they are cooked.
Beets
At the store: Choose beets with deep red or purple roots. Beets with their tops are fresher than those that are trimmed. (Beet leaves have more antioxidants than the beets themselves).
Storing: Store the greens and roots separately, cut off the greens (rinse, spin dry, store in plastic bag pricked with tiny holes and eat within 2 days). The beet roots can be stored unwrapped in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator and used within a week or two.
Cooking: Roasting or steaming beets increases their antioxidant properties.
Sweet Potatoes
At the store- The most nutritious varieties have orange, deep orange, or purple flesh and are often marketed as yams. Sweet potatoes have a lower glycemic index and are higher in antioxidant value than conventional potatoes.
Storing: Can be stored for a week at normal room temperature. They will last longer if you store them in an unsealed bag in a dark and cool place with good air circulation.
Cooking: Steaming, roasting or baking can double their antioxidant value (but boiling reduces it).
Tomatoes
At the store: Choose tomatoes with the darkest red color (yellow, gold, pink, green or pale red have relatively little lycopene). Small dark red tomatoes have the most lycopene per ounce, and they are also sweeter and more flavorful. Small tomatoes also have more vitamin C than the beefier ones.
Storing: The worst thing you can do is store tomatoes in the refrigerator. When the internal temperature of a tomato dips below 50 degrees, it stops producing flavor and aromatic compounds. Eat them right away or store in an area of your house that is 55-70 degrees. Remove any spilt or overripe fruit. Place tomatoes stem side up to slow the softening and darkening of the fruit.
Cooking: The skin and the seeds provide about 50 percent of the tomatoe’s vitamin C, lycopene, and overall antioxidant value. The longer you cook them the more health benefits you get. The heat breaks down the cell walls making the nutrients more bioavailable and it also makes the nutrients easier to absorb.
Broccoli
At the store: Look for broccoli with dark green crowns and tightly closed buds. Whole heads of broccoli have more nutrients than pre cut florets.
Storing: Chill immediately and eat it that day or the next. If it is more than one day, store in a micro perforated bag and store in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.
Cooking: Eating raw broccoli gives you up to 20 times more of a beneficial compound called sulforaphane than cooked broccoli. The best way to cook it is to steam for no more than 4 minutes. Another option is to saute in oil flavored with garlic.
Brussels Sprouts
At the store: Look for bright green brussels sprouts with tight wrapped leaves. Frozen brussels sprouts are convenient but have only 20 percent of the cancer fighting compounds of fresh sprouts.
Storing: Refrigerate as soon as you get them home and eat them that day or the next.
Cooking: Cut a cross into the bottom of the larger stems so they will cook as quickly as the leaves. Steam on the stove top for 6-8 minutes. Toss with olive oil or butter or a vinaigrette. You could also roast brussels sprouts in the oven or saute them.
Cabbage
At the store: Green cabbage has fewer antioxidants than all other types, but is still a very nutritious vegetable. Look for compact heads that are firm and heavy for their size. Red cabbage has 6 times more antioxidants than green cabbage.
Storing: Can be stored in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator for weeks without losing many of its nutrients.
Cooking: Eat it raw or you can cook it but mainly do not care for the foul-smelling gas it produces when cooked. Steam cabbage for 5 min or less to help reduce the odor. Cut the cabbage into half-inch slices or chop it roughly before adding to the boiling water in the steamer basket to help it cook in about 5 min.
Cauliflower
At the store: Choose the freshest head, it should have no spots, speckles, bruises, or traces of gray mold. The leaves should be bright green.
Storing: Can be stored for a week in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator without compromising the flavor or nutritional value.
Cooking: Boiling cauliflower reduces the antioxidant value and the ability to fight cancer. The best options are to steam or saute. To steam, break the head into egg size pieces and place them stem side down in a steamer basket. Steam no more than 10 min.
Kale
At the store: All varieties are good sources of cancer-fighting, heart protective glucosinolates. One serving of kale has more calcium than six ounces of milk and more fiber than three slices of whole wheat bread. Red leaf varieties have more antioxidants.
Storing: Store in a crisper drawer of the refrigerator and use it within a few days.
Cooking: Raw kale is higher in vitamin C, antioxidants, and phytonutrients than cooked kale. Steaming or sauteing it briefly to wilt leaves is the best way to cook it.
Asparagus
At the store: Purchase as fresh as possible, asparagus can lose much of its flavor and nutritional value within just a few days. Look for straight spears whose tips are tightly closed and are either green or purplish in color. Purple asparagus (Purple Passion) has up to three times more antioxidants than the standard green varieties.
Storing: Best to eat the day you get it. If you plan to eat it later on, place the spears in a micro perforated bag and store them in the crisper drawer in the refrigerator.
Cooking: Research shows that cooked asparagus is better for you than raw asparagus. If you steam asparagus (the recommended method), you increase its antioxidant value by about 30 percent.
Avocados
At the store: The Hass avocado has from 2-4 times more antioxidant value than most of the other varieties in the store. It is ready to eat when it is soft at the top, the pit will be anchored firmly in the flesh.
Storing: If you get unripe avocados, store inside a paper bag, close it and store at room temperature until the stem end begins to soften (about 2-3 days). You can speed up the ripening if you add a banana to the bag. Whole ripe avocados can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two days without losing their eating quality. Cut sections will stay fresh if you drizzle them with lemon or lime juice, wrap tightly in plastic and store in the refrigerator.
Corn
At the store: If available varieties that are deep yellow, red, blue, black or purple provide more phytonutrients than pale yellow or white corn. For maximum freshness purchase from farmers market or u-pick farm. Frozen yellow corn has the same nutritional content as fresh yellow corn. Purchase organic corn to help reduce your exposure to pesticides. Organic corn was also shown in one study to have 50 percent more phytonutrients than conventionally raised corn.
Storing: Corn from the u-pick farm or grown in your own garden can be chilled as soon as you pick them and eat them that day.
Cooking: Boiling corn dissolves most of the water-soluble nutrients into the cooking water. Steaming or grilling corn are the best options to keep the nutrient value. Steam frozen corn without thawing to retain the most nutritional value.
Lettuce
At the store: The most intensely colored salad greens have the most phytonutrients. The most nutritious greens are actually red, purple and reddish brown. Plants with loose and open leaves, particularly the loose leaf varieties, contain many times more bionutrients.
Storing: As soon as you bring home the greens, pull off the leaves, rinse them, soak them for about 10 minutes in very cold water. Then dry them with a salad spinner or towel. If you tear up the lettuce before you store it, you can double the antioxidant value! Place the greens in a resealable plastic bag, squeeze out as much air as possible without crushing the leaves, seal the bag, then use a needle or pin to prick 10-20 holes. Store the bag in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator.