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silly question

With not alot of money and frozen being cheaper than fresh for some veggies and mixed fruit (for smoothies and such) does frozen count as raw or does the freezing “kill” the foods?

Comments

  • i don’t think that the actual freezing kills the food. i’ve heard that freezing is the best way to preserve your raw food but most frozen vegetables and fruits are blanched (quickly boiled) before their frozen. I think that blanching activates the enzymes and then they die. someone correct me if i am wrong.

  • TomsMomTomsMom Raw Newbie

    Most commerical fruits aren’t blanched before freezing because it turns them to mush, but almost all commerical vegetables are blanched before being frozen, so the enzymes are quite dead.

  • I have read the same….being frozen isn’t the issue – it’s what happened to the fruit/vegetables before they were frozen.

    There was a recent news story regarding Green Giant frozen vegetables that were sparking (yes, I said sparking) while being cooked in the microwave. There was some lame explanation about the minerals in the vegetables reacting to the microwaves. Are you kidding?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Krp9Vzmj3uY

    Anyway, I would recommend stocking up on locally grown fruit and vegetables when they are in season this year and freezing them yourself. That way you know for sure. Good luck.

    Oh, and by the way – there are no silly questions here. :)

  • well here’s another silly one. do they keep just as good if you skip the blanching?? I am planning a big garden and all the stupid books i’ve read say to blanch?? what’s the best way to store frozen vegetables if you don’t have a vacuum seal?

  • TomsMomTomsMom Raw Newbie

    I would love to hear personal experience also on this, because in the future if I ever get a house I’ll plant a garden.

    I used to occasional can eons ago and my limited experience is that vegetables tend to turn to a dark mush if they’re not blanched, HOWEVER, I dont’ think all types of vegetables go mushy and dark like this. I know for example that kale will be just fine without blanching. My green beans from my garden(long time ago) went to hell when I tried to freeze them in my freezer.

  • rawmamarawmama Raw Newbie

    Tomatoes I’ve had unblanched as well as red peppers…just washed, dried, cut up and popped into ziplock freezer bags. The tomatoes are great for soups or smoothies, the peppers are a little more soft than fresh crispy ones, so good for same thing or marinades, or if you do cook, stir-frying. The tomatoes and red peppers as well as fruit are bright as can be, just like the color the day I froze them. We also wash and dry and freeze greens now in the freezer, all abundant fruits, all for smoothies. I’ve read on this site that people even freeze avocados…some say that they taste different, some think it’s fine.

    Everything says blanched because it will stop the enzymes (kill them) from continuing to possibly spoil the frozen food (which sounds ridiculous to me because freezing slows down that process naturally), and also kill bacteria (which doesn’t washing do that?)...we personally do not blanch anymore, used to years ago before knowing about eating raw foods.

    There was a topic the other day on goneraw.com with a link that showed how much of food nutrient is loss with freezing. Mainly 5% of vitamins, 30% of vitamin c. Here’s that link:

    http://www.nutritiondata.com/topics/processing

  • germin8germin8 Raw Master

    RawrAdisaurous, If you don’t blanch veggies before freezing they will turn color. Has to do with some enzyme ‘activity’. But, if your book says to blanch if they are not vacuum sealed, then it’s probably because they oxidize. I like what rawmama said.

    Oh wow, thanks for that link RawMama… I’ve had questions about “numbers/percentages” for the past year! I’ll check it out.

  • germin8germin8 Raw Master

    Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting that link! It really answered my questions… I knew there was some enzyme denaturization… it’s good to finally know approximately how much… and to have a good reference.

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    I’ve read that freezing for a long period of time kills the enzymes. I don’t know what “a long period of time” is, but I love to do what Karuna said, and buy lots of fresh fruit in the summer and freeze it myself. At least I know it’s fresher than the pre-frozen fruit I buy at the store. I’m curious about freezing veggies, too. I’ve made raw corn tortillas before and had them frozen for several months and they seemed fine, so I’m curious about the veggies deteriorating if frozen without being blanched?

  • rawmamarawmama Raw Newbie

    You’re welcome germin8 :) Actually somebody else (Bitt) on goneraw gets the credit for the link :) It’s great isn’t it? Here’s that link for the other forum about freezing foods:

    http://www.goneraw.com/forums/2/topics/5435

  • rawmamarawmama Raw Newbie

    ew, that youtube video is weird. I wonder if their plate has some metals in the clay or coloring and that’s what sparking instead of the veggies? For example, is it a thrown bowl from a handmade set? I’ve seen that happen to cups that have a little line of gold or silver on the lip.

  • wow, thanks for all the info. you guys are awesome

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