Boiling leaches out the vegetable's water-soluble vitamins in these vegetables, such as vitamin C and folate, as well as many of the glucosinolate compounds, which are water-soluble, too. Moreover, too much exposure to high temperatures destroys the enzyme that converts the inactive glucosinolates to active compounds.
To cook: Broccoli can be boiled, steamed or stir-fried, it is easy to overcook - it should still retain its bright green colour when cooked and should have a little 'bite'. The cooking time will depend on the size of the florets and your personal taste.
While boiled broccoli is often soggy, steamed broccoli is characteristically crisp-tender. Plus, when you boil broccoli, some of the nutrients leach into the boiling water. You don't have to worry about that with steaming. Your steamed broccoli will be a great meal-prep building block because it's like a blank canvas.
A 2009 study prepared broccoli using five popular methods – boiling, microwaving, steaming, stir-frying and stir-frying/boiling. Researchers found steaming kept the highest level of nutrients. “Boiling vegetables causes water soluble vitamins like vitamin C, B1 and folate to leach into the water,” Magee said.
Steamed broccoli may be one of the healthiest ways to cook broccoli because it's quick and nutrients and vitamins won't be lost in the cooking water, as can be the case with boiled broccoli.
Much of the fiber content is contained within the pulp. In addition, heat damages the structure of vegetables. This renders varying amounts of their fiber useless to your body. For example, steaming or boiling carrots or broccoli destroys much of their soluble fiber.
Boiling leaches the nutrients out. What is this? Microwaving turns out to be the best way to cook broccoli. The results show that flavonoids actually increase to levels beyond those apparently present in raw broccoli following a short period of microwaving with minimal water.
Boiling veggies leads to a lot of nutrient loss, and the longer the veggie boils, the more nutrients will escape into the water. Steaming veggies on the other hand is a brief process, and it is the method that leads to the least loss of nutrients in most veggies.
Heating releases bound calcium, making more of the mineral available for the body to absorb. Cooking vegetables also increases the amount of magnesium and iron that are available to the body. Even so, in some cases vegetables may be better for you raw than cooked.
Is it better to steam or microwave broccoli? Microwaving is a safe way to cook broccoli and requires less time than steaming. Microwaving is also thought to preserve the nutrients in vegetables most effectively.
Break apart the florets. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add the broccoli florets and cook, uncovered, until tender, 2 to 3 minutes depending on the size of the florets. Drain into a colander, transfer to a plate, sprinkle with salt and pepper and serve with lemon wedges.
On the downside, boiling results in the loss of minerals, vitamins, some sugars and the phytochemicals that help deliver health benefits. Eleven different green vegetables were analysed both when raw and after being boiled for 10 minutes. Vitamin C was the most affected nutrient when boiled.
Steaming veggies can preserve nutrients, color, shape, and texture, without having to add any unnecessary fats through ingredients like oils or butter. To steam, place food into a steam basket and cover over simmering water. Since food is not directly touching the water, vegetables retain more of their nutrients.
❖ Cook vegetables as quickly as possible to and retain nutrients, color, and flavor. ❖ Steaming is the most preferred method for cooking because steam cooks food rapidly, lessens the loss of nutrients and flavor, and does not break up delicate vegetables.
Destroy that — sulforaphane can't form. A study by Jeffery that compared boiling, microwaving, and steaming found that steaming broccoli for up to five minutes was the best way to retain its myrosinase. Boiling and microwaving broccoli for one minute or less destroyed the majority of the enzyme.
Cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli, have high fibre content and are hard to digest. It is ideal to cook them rather than eating them raw. Bhansali suggests cooking it with sesame seeds and garlic to make broccoli more digestible.
Cruciferous vegetables are beneficial in cleaning the colon and liver as well. These type of vegetables are high in fiber, containing up to 40% of the daily requirement for your body in 100 calories. Types of cruciferous vegetables are arugula, bok choy, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, horseradish, and turnips.
Microwaving showed the smallest loss of iron and ascorbic acid across all vegetables. Boiling resulted in the greatest loss in iron and ascorbic acid.
Ways to Prepare Broccoli
Broccoli can be eaten raw, but blanching it quickly in boiling water helps give it a more crisp-tender texture and bring out its flavor. Broccoli can also be steamed, sautéed, and roasted. You could even throw long spears on the grill!
Once removed from the boiling water , cauliflower and broccoli are left to drain well, it is as simple as leaving in a colander over a saucepan. To get whiter cauliflower while boiling in a pot, add a little milk. Broccoli is best cooked, if not boiled in water and steam.
A lot of the carbs in carrots are fiber and fiber is beneficial for all kinds of things, including reducing LDL cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. Broccoli is rich in vitamins including a high amount of Vitamin K, a number of B-vitamins and Vitamin C.
“When you boil vegetables, you lose some of their water-soluble nutrients.” Nutritionally, there's also a big downside to boiling most vegetables. “When you boil vegetables, you lose some of their water-soluble nutrients,” says Chryssidis, who's also an Accredited Practising Dietitian.
Boiling and cooking vegetables in high temperatures or in water decreases their nutrient level. Water soluble vitamins like Vit C and B vitamins are often lost during these cooking methods. Minerals like potassium, phosphorus, calcium , magnesium, iron and zinc may be reduced by up to 60-70 percent.