FRESH VEGETABLES
Since falling in love with farmers markets and the fresh, local produce they offer, I’ve stopped buying canned fruits and vegetables.
Fresh, organic vegetables are infinitely more flavorful than canned. Fresh fruits and vegetables have their own unique textures, too. Shop farmers markets if you can when the season cooperates. Or buy as local as possible. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) cooperatives offer delicious local produce. Check out Local Harvest to see if there’s a fresh food co-op in your area, and to learn more about CSA’s
Whether shopping at your local store, farmers market or CSA, be sure to go for fresh, picked ripe to get the maximum nutrition.
After a vegetable is harvested, its nutritional value will soon begin to decline. So you want as fresh as possible. The more local the better. After throwing away one too many zucchinis because it started to go bad two days after I bought it, I began driving a little farther to a store in a neighboring town that more consistently offered better looking, fresher produce. Yeah, it does cost a little more, but if I’m actually going to EAT the vegetables rather than toss them, it’s money well spent.
Farmers market season runs from June through September in my area. We also have our own home garden, so between the two, we enjoy a wide variety of fresh produce throughout the summer. The rest of the year, however, it can be a challenge to find quality organic produce.
If I can’t find good looking organic, I will either change my mind about what I’m cooking or buy the conventionally grown version. I try my best to stick to the Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen lists in order to avoid too much exposure to food grown with artificial fertilizers and treated with pesticides. Sometimes frozen can be an option. But a few years ago I decided to stop buying canned vegetables.
CANNED VEGETABLES
Canned vegetables have a much different texture and taste than fresh vegetables. Until a few years ago, I honestly preferred canned because that was what I was most familiar with. Having our own garden helped me realize just how good fresh vegetables could taste.
While doing research for this post, I began looking for hard evidence that fresh vegetables are more nutritious than canned. Because I just assumed they would be. How couldn’t they? I was surprised to discover I was wrong.
The gist of what I read is that the canning/cooking process causes loss of some vitamins, mostly C and B-themed, but that once canned, the content remains pretty stable (no air gets in to cause oxidation, which effects nutrients). Fresh-picked has more vitamins than canned at the get-go, but the amount declines the longer the vegetables sit on the produce rack, your counter, or in the fridge.
Other than taste and texture, there are a couple downsides to canned vegetables. 1) Sodium. Lots of sodium. Some brands sell No Salt Added options, so look for those. 2) BPA* in the coating used on the inside of the cans. This turned out to be the big red flag I didn’t know I was looking for. Manufacturers are slowly starting to eliminate BPA. Read labels. If they don’t use BPA they will be bragging about it!
*A note about BPA: Bisphenol A is a chemical found in hard plastics, but also used to make the epoxy resins which coat the insides of food and drink cans. Manufacturers use these coatings to help keep cans from eroding, which would then cause the food to spoil. There is legit cause for concern about BPA leeching into food. The Gov says the amount consumed in a typical diet isn’t worth fretting over. But studies have shown that high exposure can cause fertility problems, raise blood pressure and interfere with various hormone receptors. Seems to me BPA is worth avoiding when possible. Click here to learn more about BPA.
FROZEN VEGETABLES
Frozen vegetables, like canned, are picked fully ripe. They may be blanched (quick, brief dunk in boiling water) to preserve color and halt enzyme activity that can cause some vegetables to decay even when frozen. (I’ve read differing opinions on this, but that’s why manufacturers do it).
If the best fresh you can find is, well, not very fresh, then nutrition-wise, frozen can be a good choice. This happens a lot at one of my nearby grocers, especially if I’m looking for out of season produce. You won’t want to use frozen vegetables, like say bell peppers, if you are going to eat them raw, to dip in hummus, for instance. Frozen veggies go soft as they thaw. But for cooking, frozen can be a good option, and a time saver since they are cleaned, cut up and ready to go. You can even roast them! Take a look at this recipe from Spoon University for roasting frozen veggies.
SELECTION
At first glance there is a large selection in the canned vegetable aisle. You can find them in different cuts and styles, or with enhancements like sauces or seasonings, but in the end the TYPES of vegetables are fairly limited. Same for frozen.
I counted 12 different specific vegetables in the canned veg aisle. 16 different vegetables in the freezer section.
The fresh produce department is where the fun begins. There are over 40 different types of vegetables in the fresh produce department, not including a dozen varieties of greens. Plus seasonal specials. You can feel and smell and inspect for yourself. You can try something new. You should try something new! How about every week? Pick something unusual to you, Google it right there in the store for recipe or preparation ideas, and go home and enjoy. If you’re at the farmers market, ask the farmer for advice.
Exploring fresh vegetables will give you a new perspective on cooking and eating. You will be drawn to fresh and will start skipping the canned because the taste and variety just won’t be there.
Let me know what you discover!
