Blanched vegetable healthier?

Everything can be blanched. For those who don’t know how to cook, blanching is certainly the most convenient and fast cooking method. Compared to frying or stir-frying, blanching does help us to consume less oil, but is it really healthier?

Blanching means putting vegetables into boiling water until cooked through. But the heat and moisture in the process destroy the vitamins in the vegetables.

Water Soluble Vitamins

Vitamins B and C get lost easily in water. They antioxidant ability will also be destroyed by heating in a high temperature for too long. Most vitamins and minerals are sensitive to high temperature, the higher the temperature, the more nutrients are lost.

Oil Soluble Vitamins

Vitamins A, D, E, K can release more vitamins for the body if they are stir-fried with oil. For example, frying carrots in oil can help the body absorb vitamin A better than boiling/blanching.

The high-temperature stir-frying time is generally shorter than that of blanching, and there is no liquid to take away water-soluble vitamins. However, too much fat and oil make it 7-8 times harder for us to digest food. So, it is recommended to control the amount of oil used. The ideal cooking temperature is between 71° and 92°C as the nutritional value can be retained in the food as much as possible.

Both stir-frying and blanching have their pros and cons. Therefore, we cannot simply say blanching is healthier than stir-frying. The appropriate cooking method should be selected depending on the relevant ingredients.