Monday Moaning

This is not so much a ‘Moan’ as something to think about even though it may go against the grain.

We have it drilled into us that fresh produce is the best, and nothing else will suffice.

But is it?

I read this article on NerdSteak last week, and it set me to thinking.

Reblogged.

Frozen Foods Can Be Fresher Than Fresh…

Some times you gotta be fresh…and other times, frozen may be fresher than fresh.  Some studies have shown that frozen fruits and vegetables can contain higher levels of vitamins and antioxidants compared to the fresh varieties from stores or farmers markets.

This is due to the fact that many frozen fruits and vegetables are processed and frozen right at the source, from minutes to hours after being picked or harvested during their peak ripeness.  On the other hand, fresh produce maybe be held for days, weeks, or even months before being sold to consumers, then held at the home for even more time before being used. When these products are held at ambient temperatures or even refrigerated, they slowly and naturally lose some of their healthy properties over time.  When product is frozen, it inhibits the loss of these volatile compounds, and provides more health benefits.  Some fresh produce is also picked before being fully ripened to handle the delay in consumption, which reduces the overall health advantages even more.

Supermarkets and even farmers markets have a list of ways to make their foods look fresh, such as water misting and trimming.  While these practices are normal, the overall health profile of these foods can often time be less than the frozen counterparts. There are even instances that refrigeration will INCREASE degradation of healthy compounds in certain food items, specifically soft fruits.  It is still recommended that foods picked right from the ground are the best, but frozen can be just as good of an option.

And as a side note, if you do want to cook your fruits and vegetables while keeping the most nutritional value in the products, steaming is the optimal way to insure the least about of benefit loss.  This is of course second to eating them raw.

Opinion:

This post ticked off a long lost story.

Millions of years ago, when I had hair and didn’t have a beer pot, wasn’t married and my kids were still just a distant gleam in my eyes, I worked in a Bird’s Eye factory. I was the night shift supervisor, which is a fancy title for anyone stupid enough to do permanent night shift.

We processed peas, principally, then French beans, asparagus and broccoli.

Take the peas for example. Harvested by machine and transported in big bins direct to the factory where they were processed within an hour of harvesting.

Our best peas, export grade, were  the aim. When the peas arrived we put samples through a ‘tender-o-meter’ to measure their hardness. Every half hour delay, the peas became harder, so reduced the grade, white, green, then orange which was considered ‘commercial grade’. White and green being for domestic sales. The peas were washed, cooked and inspected in twenty minutes, before going through the blast freezer and being snap frozen. and bagged in bulk for later domestic packaging.

So the frozen peas you buy in the supermarket were in the same condition as they were two hours from harvesting.

Now when I see fresh peas in the supermarket, I wonder how long since they were picked, one day, two days, more? How long did they stay in the field before being transported? How long between the grower and the market? How long between the market and the supermarket? How long in the supermarket before they went on display in the vege section?

The above post rings true.

In some cases, frozen can be better.

Of course, if you have peas in the garden, picked and within minutes in the pot is always best.

Change the World Wednesday – 12th Sept

These do NOT make coffee, they produce dirty water

A week ago, I started my CTWW with coffee and no teeth, today, I have neither, but the pondering continues.

I am waiting for the water to boil for my coffee, and before that, you’re not going to get a lot.

People in the First World need gadgets. They have machines to do everything. If everybody just spent 10 minutes more of everyday in the kitchen and made coffee the old fashioned way, straining water through ground coffee beans you wouldn’t have the millions of coffee makers that are around the world. Now you add up all those coffee makers, all that plastic, metal, elements and glass that would never have to be mined, manufactured, transported and eventually thrown away.

That equals a lot of raw materials never extracted, refined and processed. All that petroleum saved, all that electricity never produced and used.

Fresh ginger

My kitchen smells deliciously of ginger this morning. Yesterday I marinated my steak in soya sauce and coarsely grated ginger root and today the kitchen still smells  fresh and clean.

I have a clump of ginger rhizomes in the garden, every now and then I break off a hunk for the vege bowl.

I must break the clump up and spread it out so that it will grow again this season.

My compost tomatoes haven’t ripened yet, but a couple are showing that yellowish tinge, so it won’t be long now.

My passionfruit vines had their first flower during the week, so hopefully they will be more successful and I will have passionfruit for this season.

Change the World Wednesday for this week is a great one. Apt for today because I am off to the supermarket after class.

This week, pick a food item which you normally buy in a package (especially a plastic package) and find a better alternative. For example, rather than buy beans in a plastic bag, look for them in the bulk isle of the market and fill your own container. Rather than buy produce in plastic “clam shells”, see if you can find them loose, without packaging. If you typically shop at a supermarket (where almost everything is packaged in plastic) consider shopping at a farmer’s market, food co-op, wholesale market or organic food store for better options. The idea, here, is to find at least one “green” alternative to plastic packaging … and, while doing without might be an appropriate alternative, we’re more interested in finding the food in acceptable/no packaging for this challenge.

 

Or … If, in your area, you find it nearly impossible to buy food which isn’t packaged in plastic, please speak to your market’s owner/manager to see if they can offer any alternatives. Talk to neighbors and members of the community to search out options.

 

Or … If none of the above works out, please write letters to your government officials and/or start a petition asking for plastic free food packaging.

Farmer’s markets, etc are the answer, but I have explained that is not feasible for me, so I am stuck with the supermarket.

They have many products prepackaged in polystyrene with wrap. For example they have shredded cabbage, I prefer to buy a small cabbage and it takes about 30 seconds to shred enough to use, so I wouldn’t even entertain the idea.

I have managed to get the fresh produce guy to put fruit in a simple plastic bag for me rather than buy a tray with wrap. But it’s got to be in a bag for ‘security reasons.’

These trays are really so unnecessary

They have prepackaged meat as well, but I always go to the counter and get my meat in a simple plastic bag, or get my bacon cut fresh and not use their cryo-vacced stuff, besides it always looks pale and insipid. A hunk cut fresh from a side is much more appealing.

So that takes care of the second part of the challenge. I am always on the look out to at least reduce packaging if I can’t eliminate it.

Today I will check around and see what else I can reduce, and then I will do an update.

Update

I failed.

Apart from the fact that the supermarket didn’t have many of the things I wanted, which is becoming all too often these days, I saw some wonderful filled pies, they were open topped, sort of like little 4″ quiches. The soft pastry would have been destroyed if they had been packed in anything but a polystyrene tray and covered in plastic wrap. There were four different fillings, I just had to have one of each… I felt so guilty when the girl in the deli section wrapped them.

But I managed to assuage my guilt over morning coffee…

They were scrumptious!

I’m off to the other supermarket in a couple of days, I’ll try again then.