Milford chronicle., 1939-03-17
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
The Food You Eat Greatly
Affects Your Appearance
BY CHARLOTTE SPENCER
Nutritionist for the State Board
of Health.

Good methods of preparation will
preserve to the greatest possible de-
gree the quality and food value of
fresh fruits and vegetables. Poor
methods will cause a tremendous
less i'm vitamins and minerals. Many
Of us insist on buying the best and
freshest vegetables in the market
and then by careless preparation we
destroy that very quality which we
insisted on buying.
Fruits and vegetables make a real
contribution to the diet in supplying
vitamins. particularly vitamins A. B.
Rnd c. minerals and bulk. II is the
housewives problem TO see that these
essentian food materials find their
way to the dining room table and not
down the kitchen sink.
All of these valuable vitamins and
minerals. with the exception of vita
min A. can easily be lost In the
preparation Of fruits and vegetables.
Vitamiu G. is easily destroyed by heat,
by oxygen or by alkali and IL is also
readily soluble in cooking water.
Vitamin b is not as readily de-
strOyed by heat but il is even more
likely to be dissolved in cooking wa
ter or by alkalis. The minerals are
also readily dissolved i'm cooking
water.
The use of raw fruits and vege-
tables is the surest way to get all of
the original food value. A liberal
use of raw fruits and raw vegetables
rot only is good for us but also
makes our meals interesting aud col
Orful.
Fruit juices lose much of their Wit
amin content when they are exposed
TO air. Storage in a refrigerator for
four days will destroy from 30 to 20
per cent of the vitamin content of
tomato juice. The vitamin content
of orange juice is also considerably
decreased by standing after it has
been squeezed. Incidentally, the pulp
of the orange which is usually
thrown away after squeezing is just
as good vitamin source as the
juice.
Fruits or vegetables retain the
greatest food value when cooked
whole. Peeling. cutting or ehopping
breaks down the protecting cell
walls and causes added losses. Soak
ing in water after peeling and cut
ting increases the amounts which are
dissolved away.
Rapid boiling in small quantity of
water or steaming are the two best
ways of cooking vegetables to pre-
serve food value. Forty to rs per
cent of the vitamin content may be
dissolved by cooking in large quan-
titles of water. Frying or long baking
destroys much of the vitamln content
because of the high heat.
Vegetables have the best quality,
color and flavor if they are cooked
until just tender rather than until
they are soft and mushy. Recent stu
dies have shown that such things as
cabbage are far less likely to cause
Indigestion when cooked just to done
ness rather than cooked for a long
period.
Vegetables cooked until tender in
an uncovered pan will stay green
without the addition of soda. The
alkali of soda destroys almost COM
pletely both vtamins therein.
Fruits and vegetables should Ee
used as soon after cooking as possi-
BILE since cooked fruits and vege-
tables on standing rapidly undergo
marked decrease in their vitamin
content. For example the apples in !
a pie which has stood for As hours
at room temperature will have lost |
sc per cent of its vitamin G content.
Apple-sauce has been reported to |
lose IA per cent of its vitamin C con-
tent i'm standing Is minutes after
cooking.
The water in which vegetables are
to be cooked should be salted before |
the vegetables are put in. This salt
ing not only causes more uniform
seasoning but it helps prevent vita
min destruction during cooking.
Cooking to preserve food value is
o part of the true economy of food !
purchasing