When buying farm products, which are actually better: fresh food or frozen food? Though most of us would definitely prefer the fresh farm produce when buying our food, there are actually many instances wherein frozen food is better! How is that possible?
According to AsapSCIENCE, the answer lies in what transpired before the food reached the supermarket shelves.
Fresh Food
In most cases, fruits and vegetables are harvested before they are ripe so that these could reach the supermarkets intact. This is especially true in farm produce that had to be transported to long distances, via plane, boat, or trucks.
You could just imagine what would happen if the farmers picked produce that are already ripe. These would reach the shelves days after peak, leading to overripe products that you would not buy anymore!
By picking these fresh farm produce before they are ripe, consumers have the chance to buy these items by the time they are ripe.
However, you might want to take note of the nutrient content here. As soon as the farm products are removed from the plants, their nutritive content decreases. This goes down as a function of time – meaning that the longer the time between picking and eating is, the lower the nutritive content becomes!
Frozen Food
As opposed to fresh food, frozen food items are picked when they are ripe; thus, they are at their peak in terms of everything, including nutritive content.
By quickly freezing these items, most of the nutritive content remains intact. Thus, even after weeks in the fridge, it is possible that the nutritive content may remain constant or if it goes down, the decrease would not be as large compared with fresh food of the same age in the shelf.
Fresh vs. Frozen Food?
So, does this mean frozen food is better than fresh food? Again, that is subject to various circumstances.
Of course, as explained above, there are times when frozen food can be better – this is best exemplified by food items you buy off season.
Still, nothing beats fresh food you pick from your own garden and then cooked right away! But not everyone has a garden at home. So, you might want to find a local farmer’s market that sells freshly picked produce – those are better than the fresh food that spent weeks in supermarket shelves.
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