One advice that most of the dietitians recommend is to include more vegetables in your diet. They are a great source of micronutrients that are hard to eat enough without making veggies part of your daily diet.
There are confusions regarding what makes up a vegetable. One simple definition is that all parts of an edible plant that are not fruits are vegetables. This can include leaves, stem, and roots. While this is true for a lot of things that we consider as vegetables, there are those that do not fit this description as well. For example, tomatoes are fruits according to this definition. Because of this, it is better to assume that everything that we traditionally considered vegetables to be vegetables. This article will tell you everything about shopping for them online.
Fresh vegetables are always the best options. However, in some cases, it is useful to buy preserved ones as well. Because produce cannot last for a long time, preserved farm produce can save you money and also can be a great convenience. Some preservation methods can change the texture and nutritional value of the food as well. The properties of the food also change depending on the preservation method. Here are the four main ways that people use to preserve fruits and vegetables.
The easiest method to preserve vegetables is to freeze them to subzero temperatures. In that temperature, microorganisms cannot grow, and therefore the food item does not go bad. The advantage of freezing is that it can be done without any expensive tools except for a really good freezer. But the downside is that you have to keep it frozen until you use it. That makes frozen vegetables and food in general, impractical for travelling. Another problem is that freezing will affect the freshness of the food. Even Though the food won't rot, the flavour and texture of the food changes because of the freezing process.
Dehydrating is a very effective method of preserving foods. This method is expensive and requires specialised tools. Because of that, you might not be able to buy dehydrated vegetables from your corner store. However, dehydrating offers a slew of benefits over freezing. Firstly, because the process takes away the water, the overall weight of the food decreases. Secondly, if the packaging is air sealed, you can carry them around anywhere you want. The food won't go bad until you open the packaging and the humidity comes in contact with the food.
This is the oldest method of preserving food items. People have been using pickling for thousands of years. The chemistry behind pickling is that the food is steeped in a solution of salt and vinegar. Because organisms cannot grow in this medium, the food won't go bad as long as it is kept away from humidity and water. People use this method even to this day. But there are two main problems with this method. Pickling requires huge jars. Therefore, pickled foods are not really portable unless in very small quantities. Also, pickled foods are not healthy in large quantities.
Canning is a pretty effective way of preserving foods. What canning does is that it creates an environment free of humidity or microorganisms inside that can. So, not only is the condition inside the can favourable for the growth of bacteria but also there are no bacteria to start the growth. But canning requires special and expensive machinery. Therefore, most of the canning is done by large food companies. Typical, canned foods are not that expensive because such food items have long shelf lives. But once you open the can, the food inside it should be consumed or refrigerated.
