Soaring fresh produce prices have many shoppers pushing their
carts to
the frozen and canned food aisles at their grocery store. A
University
of Georgia nutrition specialist said frozen and canned
foods may be the better
nutritional bargains anyway.
“Many people prefer fresh fruits and vegetables. But
canned and frozen products
can cost less and contain at least the same nutrients,” said
Connie Crawley, an
extension food, nutrition and
health specialist with the UGA College of Family and
Consumer Sciences.
Excessive rains and cold weather have cut vegetable
production in the nation and
worldwide. A drop in supply can push produce prices through
the roof.
Processors can and freeze produce right after
harvest, Crawley said. Then
they store it for sale throughout the year. So most processed
food prices don’t vary much.
“So right now, as prices rise in the fresh produce section,
you may find bargains
in both price and nutrition in frozen and canned foods,” she
said.
Chances are, much of the fresh produce in your supermarket
now came from south Florida,
California, Texas, Mexico or South America. Grocers must pay to
get the produce from those
distant areas, adding to the cost at the checkout.
Storage conditions at the supermarket and in your pantry
affects nutrients, too, she
said. The longer fresh produce is stored, even under perfect
conditions, the more
nutrients it loses. Canned and frozen produce storage is stable,
Crawley said, keeping the
nutrient levels constant.
Since the produce has so far to be shipped from where it
grows, “it may have been
picked before peak ripeness,” Crawley said. “These fresh
products still contain
valuable nutrients, but not in the same quantities found in
fully ripe products.”
Produce for freezing and canning is picked at full ripeness,
then processed quickly,
usually very close to the field. Crawley said that preserves
nutrients.
“About 10 percent of Georgia’s vegetables are grown for
processing,” said Terry Kelley, an
extension horticulturist with
the UGA College of
Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences.
Georgia farmers grow snap beans, sweet corn, greens, lima
beans, southern peas, squash
and Irish potatoes for processing.
When preparing produce for freezing, processors blanch it by
submerging it briefly in
boiling water. That stops the action of enzymes that cause food
spoilage. Then it’s
quick-frozen in separate pieces, rather than in large chunks.
Crawley said individual freezing can make preparation easier,
especially for people
cooking small portions. “This freezing technique makes it very
economical to buy a
large bag and then use small portions at a time,” she said. “It
also makes it
easy to microwave the products.”
Microwave-cooking fresh, frozen or canned produce
is ‘nutrient-friendly,’ Crawley said.
It uses a small amount of water and a short cooking time. That
keeps more nutrients in the
food.
Canned vegetables, like frozen, are harvested at peak
ripeness. The heat processing
used to seal the cans can damage some nutrients, but most remain
in the product. Again,
Crawley recommends microwave heating to preserve nutrients.
“It’s long, slow cooking that destroys nutrients,” she
said.
