by Sapphire Magpie Ravenclaw

Created on: April 21, 2008

Yes, in the main, canned vegetables are just as healthy (or at least almost) as fresh ones. Also, frozen vegetables are healthy too. Sometimes, depending on how quickly they have been frozen, the frozen vegetables can be the most healthy option of the three.

It may well be that certain brands of some vegetables may be of less nutritional value when canned as certain others which are fresh. In general though, the true nutritional value of any vegetable is mainly dependent on the way that it is cooked. For example, if you cook vegetables until they are very soft, then much of their nutritional value, including the vitamins associated with them, may be lost. There may be the idea with the canned vegetables that, because they are often already softened before being put inside the can, that they can not possibly be as healthy as fresh vegetables. While this may be true in some cases, the fact still remains that canned vegetables do still hold plenty of nutritional value and, when cooked correctly, are just as healthy as fresh vegetables.

There is also the matter of the liquid which is used to store the vegetables in their cans. If this is brine, it may lead to their being more salt in the vegetables as it is absorbed but then many people add salt into their cooking when using fresh vegetables. Of course, we could use the argument of whether or not someone did use extra salt, the fact that it would be a choice and a matter of taste with fresh vegetables rather than a matter of fact with canned vegetables because the salt is already there and, while the brine can be removed and replaced with water, any salt which has already been absorbed by the vegetables can not now be removed.

The way vegetables are stored, ie. fresh, canned or frozen., may possibly go some way towards making a little difference in nutritional value and how healthy a vegetable is but generally, it is all down to the way the vegetables are cooked. If vegetables are boiled and left to turn into pulp, the nutritional value will be lost unless you use the water because that is where the nutrients will be and that will be no different between, nor dependent upon, whichever storage method has been used. Canned vegetables simply need less time to cook than other vegetables in order not to lose the same amount of nutrients.

Learn more about this author, Sapphire Magpie Ravenclaw.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.