How to preserve vitamin C in foods

Vitamin C is one of the most whimsical, save it in food very difficult. Exposure to air and high temperatures reduces the amount of this vitamin in the food, at least, half. But if you leave cooked yummy the next day, the vitamin C can be forgotten. But there are a few simple rules that will help you to keep this valuable item in ready meals.

1. Cleaning the vegetables as thin as possible, remove the skin, because vitamin C is not in the middle of the fruit, and closer to the edge. If it allows the recipe, the vegetables are better to cook them in their skins.

2. Potatoes, carrots, and other vegetables, cook whole and not cut into pieces for quick cooking. It is worth remembering that most of the vitamins out during cooking in the broth, so it is better not to merge, and to use for cooking some meals or sauces.

3. The vegetables you should put in boiling water, not pour cold water and wait until boil. So you save a little more vitamin C in the finished dish. Avoid strong boil water, it also contributes to the destruction of vitamins. Part of the vitamin C goes, if the vegetables soak in cold water.

4. Vitamin C is destroyed by contact with copper and iron, so the dishes you should use enamel.

5. It is not necessary to cook vegetables longer than necessary. A long heat treatment destroys vitamin C.

6. Vegetables should be stored in a cool and dark place. Light and heat contribute to the destruction of vitamins. It is best to eat and cook vegetables that have just taken from the garden. But in urban areas it is unreal, so you should carefully consider the choice of vegetables and store them in the refrigerator. Do not buy vegetables for the future, they do not apply to those products, which can be stored for long periods, even in cold weather. The longer the shelf life, the less useful elements, including vitamin C.

If fresh vegetables and not have to choose between frozen and dried, then it is necessary to give preference to rapid freezing. Modern methods of freezing vegetables allow you to keep the vegetables more vitamin C than usual drying. Fans of jam better to opt for a "5 minute", because a short heat treatment allows to preserve some amount of vitamin C.

Source: globalscience.ru