Have you ever wondered about the difference between prepackaged vegetables and fresh produce that you choose for yourself? Well, prepackaged vegetables are those vegetables that are harvested when they are mature and ripe then processed and packaged to prevent them from going stale. The packaging process is meant to increase their shelf life.
Fresh vegetables on the other hand are those vegetables that are fresh from the farm. They are basically vegetables that have not undergone any sort of processing or packaging; you pick them for yourself either straight from the farm or fresh vegetables’ the grocery store.
What are the differences?
Some vitamins are lost during the processing of prepackaged produce
Freezing is a method used to preserve the freshness of prepackaged vegetables. The vegetables are first packed and then stored in freezers to retain the nutrient content. Unfortunately, some nutrients start to break down as soon as prepackaged produce is stored for certain period of time. During blanching, a process that takes place before freezing of vegetables, which involves inserting the produce into boiling water, leads to the loss of essential vitamins.
Loss of flavor
The processing and packaging of prepackaged vegetables involves several processes which are usually aimed at killing bacteria and increasing the shelf life of those vegetables. Unfortunately, these processes result to the loss of flavor, texture and even color of the vegetables. This is not the case with fresh produce obtained directly from the farm. Fresh vegetables from the garden maintain their natural flavor and color.
Prepackaged vegetables require a lot of preparations before cooking
For you to cook prepackaged vegetables, you must do a number of things for example, soaking them in water to make them soft, unfreezing them, and so many other methods of preparing them prior to cooking them. This means that you will have to start the preparations early for you to be able to cook them. This is not the case with fresh produce. With fresh vegetables or fruits, you can cook them immediately you get them from the farm. You can either cook them right away or cook them later and they will still taste good.
Prepackaged vegetables are not always cleaner
There is no guarantee that prepackaged vegetables are cleaner. They may be contaminated during the packaging process. In fact, over the past years, prepackaged fruits and vegetables have been recalled in order to protect consumers from pathogens that may cause foodborne diseases. Fresh vegetables on the other hand do not contain such pathogens because you are involved in the cleaning and preparing it for cooking.
Fresh vegetables straight from the farm or garden are the best and of the highest quality as compared to prepackaged vegetables. However, if you cannot get the fresh produce, you can still use the prepackaged produce.
