Vitamin values of vegetables after cooking

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Mel!

Sous Chef
Joined
Aug 29, 2006
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If vegetables are cooked are all the vitamens cooked or of them or only a certain percentage?
What if I bake my vegetables until they are really soft or make stock with them, does this mean there are no vitamens at all left in them?

Mel
 
Yes, depending on how the vegetables are cooked, and for how long. Boiling is best way to remove most of the nutrients from your vegetables. Roasting or steaming is the best way to insure the vitamins and minerals stay put. Stirfrying, when done properly, will also ensure you get most of the nutrients you paid for when you bought the vegetables.
 
When I was young I always drank the water that my mom cooked the veggies in to get as much nutrients as possible.
 
If vegetables are cooked are all the vitamens cooked or of them or only a certain percentage?
What if I bake my vegetables until they are really soft or make stock with them, does this mean there are no vitamens at all left in them?

Mel

Not all the vitamins are cooked out of vegetables; in some cases, nutrients are more bio-available (more easily absorbed by the body) after some cooking. This site has good info on this: WHFoods: Do I have to eat my vegetables raw to attain the full nutritional benefit of the food?
 
CHOICE - Test: Are fresh vegies better?

This link will take you to Choice, which is our consumer organisation that road tests all facets of consumerism. A lot of us swear by their reports and whenever they release findings, they make the news bulletins. While not quite what you were after, this is also a related issue which you might find interesting. Think they did something on the cooking process but can't recall. You can have a search further as a lot of the articles are free.
 
I have to say I only stirfry, roast or steam in the microwave. The only times I actually put them in a saucepan, it is either part of another dish or I'm making soup from the liquid.
 
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