Is dried/frozen food still raw?

I really, really, really love sorbets and frozen grapes, but does freezing them destroy nutrients or anything? Is dried food allowed?

Comments

  • 1sweetpea1sweetpea Raw Newbie

    Fairy, if you take a look in the Food Preparation category, there is a thread called something like Frozen Food Is Still Alive!, or something along those lines. I believe someone said that seeds and grains kept in the freezer later sprout, which would indicate that many plant foods are still viable after having been frozen. I think the sorbets are fine and the frozen grapes are probably fine, as long as you eat them while frozen. If you try to defrost the grapes, they’ll leach out extra water and become mushy. This will occur with many high water content foods. I keep a lot of berries in my freezer, but I don’t defrost them to eat them. I just throw them in the blender for smoothies while still frozen. That way, their flavour is intact, but the texture isn’t an issue.

  • steviostevio Raw Newbie

    I have read a couple of competing theories between fresh and frozen fruit specifically.

    One side says fresh is better, as freezing destroys about 5% of the nutrients. The other side says frozen is better, as the fruit is usually to ripen before harvest, and therefore is more nutritious even after losing the 5% of its nutrients.

    These seem reasonably compelling, though in disagreement with eachother, so I have devised the following guidelines for myself:

    Eat locally grown fresh fruit that is in season whenever possible. Eat ripe tropically grown fresh fruit, especially if orgainc is available. Eat frozen fruit during the colder months (I live in new england) to provide additional variety of available fruit during the cold months. Eat clementines like potato chips when in season (these are by far my favorite citrus fruit). Keep frozen fruit in the freezer even in the summer as emergency backup food for busy times when frequent shopping is not feasible.

    By following those guidelines I have set for myself, I eat guilt free knowing I am doing the best I can.

  • KristensRawKristensRaw Raw Newbie

    Frozen veggies are typically NOT raw because they are blanched before freezing – thereby destroying most of the nutrition. Fruit, as mentioned above, is fine because it’s not blanched before freezing. I’ve read that you can lose as much as up to 30% nutrition from freezing fruit though, but the argument above is sound in that you lose some nutrition by not eating fruit right after it’s picked anyway. Personally, I enjoy both fresh and frozen fruit, but I stick to fresh veggies only.

    Cheers, Kristen Suzanne

    www.KristensRaw.com

    www.KristensRaw.blogspot.com

  • RawKidChefRawKidChef Raw Newbie

    I still love dried fruits as long as I dry them myself :)

Sign In or Register to comment.