vegetables - know how
as we are always being told - vegetables are an important part of our daily diet because they are a valuable source of vitamins, particularly Vitamin C, and mineral salts, so much of which can be destroyed during preparation and cooking.
vegetables should always be fresh, in an ideal world, straight from the garden or allotment to the kitchen, but in the real world this is not always possible so vegetables should be bought daily as required from a source which can be relied on to sell perfectly fresh produce.
note: because frozen vegetables are blanched before freezing, this reduces nutrients slightly, but thereafter the vitamins stay intact.
buying and eating vegetables in the height of their season
maybe using our variations-on-a-lifestyle seasonal vegetables check list as a guide means they're at their best, most plentiful and cheapest, avoiding any that are limp, wilting or discoloured and losing nutrients!
and of course,there are good imported vegetables when home grown ones aren't in season.
to preserve as much as possible of the valuable vitamin and mineral content, vegetables should be prepared and cooked immediately before serving - pealing and cutting in advance, long soaking in water and keeping hot for any length of time will destroy much of the vitamin and mineral content, and the appearance and flavour of vegetables will be impaired.
how to choose, prepare and cook root vegetables
such as beetroot, carrots, Jerusalem artichokes, kohl-rabi, leeks, parsnips, swedes, turnips, onions and shallots -
choose firm, medium sized, unblemished and within reason, even-shaped vegetables,
large sizes often lack flavour and very mis-shapen ones are wasteful and difficult to prepare.
prepare in cold water -
gently scrub/scrape new root vegetables
thoroughly scrub, then thinly peel or scrape old vegetables, as most of the vitamins and mineral salts lie just beneath the skin, and be sure to drop prepared vegetables into cold water to preserve colour if you want to keep for a while before cooking.
useful 'prep' notes:
beetroot - trim the stalks to within 5cm of the beetroot, wash thoroughly but carefully to avoid damage to the skin or roots - stalks, roots and skins are removed after cooking.
carrots - if very young, leave unscraped and cook whole - otherwise cut off the stalk end, scrape and cut into quarters or rings.
parsnips - if very young and unblemised, cook whole in their skins, otherwise peel very thinly, cut into quarters, sliced or diced before cooking.
kohl-rabi, turnips, swedes - cut off stalk ends and, as these vegetables have thick woody skins, peel thickly - drop in cold water - cut large vegetables in quarters, sliced or diced before cooking.
we say - raw vegetables should be served whenever possible.