In this case, researchers blanched two to three servings at a time in a covered casserole dish with about two tablespoons of water. The success of microwave blanching depends mostly on quantity, timing and wattage. The most recent findings - published in the December issue of the Journal of Food Quality by Brewer and Shahnaz Begum, a graduate student in food science and nutrition - indicate that microwave-blanched asparagus keeps its nutritional value, taste and texture, as well as and often better than, asparagus blanched using traditional methods. Women are no longer spending a lot of time in the kitchen doing these things anymore." We've got microwave ovens in the kitchen and women in the work force. "A lot of the recommendations used today are based on USDA guidelines developed in the 1940s and 1950s, and they were used for large quantities," Brewer said. ![]() Microwaving has been discouraged because of uncertainties on temperature, time and resulting quality. Preparing for and using traditional steaming or boiling makes for messy kitchens and a lot of unwanted heat. The heat inactivates enzymes in the vegetables. "Four weeks later, they are going to be of such poor quality that you are not going to want to eat them," she said.īlanching is very short exposure to high heat - typically two to five minutes in boiling water or live steam. ![]() Vegetables taken straight from the garden to the freezer, without blanching, deteriorate within a month. The idea was to simply take something out of the garden, put it in a storage bag and stick it in the freezer."īut that's not a good practice, she said. ![]() "People were trying to particularly get away from having to blanch anything. "In my years of conducting food-preservation classes, I found out that a lot of people are not very interested in using traditional food-preservation methods, because they are time consuming and they heat up the house," said Susan Brewer, a U. What began as a project by senior food-science students at the University of Illinois has grown into a series of published graduate-level experiments - green beans (1994), broccoli (1995) and, now, asparagus - that are setting the standards for efficient microwave blanching.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |