14. Is Home-Canned Food Less Nutritious?

Eating fruits and vegetables fresh off the vine is always the preferred method for optimum nutritional value.  Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to consume our fresh foods before they go bad.  So what’s the best way to preserve the harvest?  Research shows that proper canning is the best way to ensure nutrients remain locked in your foods as long as possible.  Listen today to discover everything you need to know about the shelf-life of nutrients when it comes to preserved foods.

Some highlights from the episode: 

• Tips on the best recipes for preserving nutrients 
• Canning, freezing, or dehydrating? 
• How not to preserve your food 

Do you want to start canning but don’t know where to begin?  Head over to https://www.learnhowtocan.com for everything you need to get started today! 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the old fashioned on purpose podcast.
In today's episode we'reanswering the question, should
you even bother with canningsince it cooks the food so long?
Are there any nutrients left?
It's a question I've beengetting a lot lately and the
answer might just surprise you.

(00:21):
Stick around to the end oftoday's episode to hear the
research that proves grandmamight just have had the right
idea after all, as she stockedher pantry full of green beans
and tomato sauce.
I'm your host Jill winger andfor the last 10 years I've been

(00:41):
helping people just like you whofeel a little uninspired by
modern day life.
I'll show you how to leave therat race, grow your own food,
and create the life you reallywant by mastering old fashioned
skills.

(01:02):
So my latest project lately hasbeen been creating a canning
ebook and video series.
Now the goal of this series,we're calling it canning made
easy, is to help folks whodidn't have a grandma or mom or
aunt to show them the ropes ofcanning in the kitchen.

(01:24):
And so it's a step by step,really easy format.
Just to help people get started.
So I have been knee deep incanning, I've been canning a lot
here on the homestead andresearching it a lot, talking
about it a lot and it'sgenerated in the process a
little bit of debate as towhether or not home canned foods
are even worth making.

(01:47):
Now it's a totally validquestion, especially after you
consider how long some jars offood must be boiled or pressure
canned in order to be safelystored on the shelf.
And once you look at that time,it's really easy to assume
there's not going to be muchnutrition left when it's all

(02:08):
said and done.
And honestly, I used to reallyfeel the exact same way and I
actually snubbed canning forquite a while just because I
automatically assumed thatdehydrating or freezing where
are the superior preservationoptions.

(02:30):
But when I actually dove intothe research, I was pretty
surprised at what I found.
The truth is if the food you'reputting into your jars is fresh
and hasn't been sitting on agrocery store shelf for weeks
and weeks before you get it, itactually maintains a higher

(02:51):
level of nutrition than a lot ofother preservation options.
And a jar home canned food mightactually even be better for you
than something that's beensitting in the refrigerator for
too many days to count.
So as I started to compare thedifferent preservation methods,

(03:14):
it appears that actuallydehydrated food, you know, if
you have a food dehydrator, it'sthe method that causes the most
nutrient loss.
And after that would come frozenfoods that have been in your
freezer a long time.
So initially freezing foods doesa pretty good job of locking in
the nutrients at that beginning,but then the longer it sits in

(03:37):
the freezer, especially if itbecomes freezer burned, you're
going to have pretty decentamounts of nutrient loss.
And raise your hand if you'relike me and have those lingering
bags of green beans in thebottom of the freezer.
Those guys probably don't have awhole lot of vitamins left,
unfortunately.

(04:00):
Now contrast those two methodswith a home canned jar of food
that was made with freshlypicked produce.
That means it came from themarket or the farm or the garden
is fast as it could and got intothose jars.
That's actually going to bepretty decent as far as

(04:21):
nutrients go.
You'll definitely have somenutrient loss when that jar of
food is heated in the canner,but after the lid goes on and
it's sealed, the loss slows downbecause no oxygen can get into
the jars and so you'll have alittle bit of nutrient lost over
the years as it sits on theshelf.

(04:42):
But actually it will be far lessthan frozen or fresh food.
Now, it's really important tocompare apples to apples because
when we compare home cannedfoods to a fresh vegetable out
in the garden, it's never goingto be equivalent, you know, to a
garden salad or to a tomatoright off the vine.

(05:04):
That's not comparing the samething.
But when we're looking at beingin the dead of winter, when all
we can get is either frozenfoods or dried foods and the
garden is dead and under twofeet of snow hit home.
Canned foods are actually areally viable option in the
absence of fresh vegetables.
Like they're actually stillnutritious for you.

(05:27):
And even with vegetables thatare in cool storage, let's say
we have a carrot that's been inthe fridge for four weeks cause
they last a pretty long time.
Keep in mind that vegetablesbegan to lose their nutrients
and vitamins as soon as they'reharvested.
So within about one to two weeksthey're going to lose about half

(05:48):
of their vitamin content.
Yeah.
And like I said, some of thevitamins are indeed lost during
the heating process of canning,but they're kinda captured in
there.
And then after the lid goes on,the loss slows to only about
five to 20% per year.

(06:09):
So in the grand scheme ofthings, canning is actually a
pretty good way to preservefoods and keep nutrient values.
Now, just in case you think I'mmaking all of this up, there is
research to back it up andhere's what us study from UC
Davis had to say.
Losses of nutrients during freshstorage may be more substantial

(06:34):
than consumers realize.
Depending on the commodity,freezing and canning processes
may preserve nutrient valuewhile the initial thermal
treatment of canned products canresult in loss, nutrients are
relatively stable duringsubsequent storage owing to the
lack of oxygen.

(06:55):
Frozen products lose fewernutrients initially because of
the short heating time inblanching, but they lose more
nutrients during storage owingto oxidation.
In addition to qualitydegradation, fresh fruits and
vegetables usually losenutrients more rapidly than
canned or frozen products.

(07:17):
Other variables such as storageand cooking conditions will also
influence the final nutrientcontent of a food.
Pretty Cool, Huh?
I guess grandma had it figuredout more than we thought.
Now a few little reminders andthings to keep in mind.
The nutrient value of your homecanned food is dependent on the

(07:40):
other ingredients you add toyour jars.
So this is why I skip fruit orjam recipes that use tons of
sugar because just because it'smade at home doesn't mean it's
automatically healthier for youif you add lots of sugar or
junky ingredients.
So that is something youdefinitely want to keep in mind

(08:01):
as you're picking your recipes.
And I have some really cool lowsugar or honey sweetened jam
recipes available that are agreat option just to keep your
fruits from being super sugaryand overly sweet.
Also remember the fresher theproduce is that you put in your

(08:22):
jars the better.
So if you have cucumbers orgreen beans that have been
sitting in your fridge for threeweeks before you can them,
they've probably already lostquite a bit of nutritional
value.
Now this is especially importantwhen you're canning things like
cucumbers because they getreally soft and mushy if you

(08:46):
wait too long after you pickthem and not not to mention the
nutrient loss that's involved.
So with most of my fruits andvegetables, if I know I'm
canning them and it's growing inmy garden, I won't even pick
them until I know I have a dayeither that same day or the
following day to get them intojars asap.

(09:07):
And especially with cucumbersbecause the sooner I get them in
there and the cooler, I keepthem while in waiting to can
them, the crisper and crunchiermy cucumbers will be, which of
course is an absolute necessitybecause nobody likes a mushy
pickle.
And lastly, there's nothing asgood as fresh vegetables and no

(09:29):
one's trying to argue that.
And if I have a choice betweeneating a fresh salad from the
garden or a jar of canned greenbeans, I'm going to pick the
salad.
But when you do have buckets andbuckets of vegetables or fruits
that you have to deal with andyou can't eat it all fresh, you

(09:50):
got to preserve it in some way,shape or form.
And in the dead of winter whenall I have is off season
vegetables, the produce section,or fruits, even off season
fruits or vegetables in theproduce section of the grocery
store.
I'd still rather have my homecanned fruits or vegetables that

(10:10):
I knew were fresh when I putthem in the jars and I know
what's inside with all thoseingredients.
So all in all, canning is areally viable food preservation
method and it's totally worththe effort it takes to learn it.
It's not hard, just a little bitof a learning curve, but you can

(10:30):
master this in just a day or twoof learning and you can then
produce all sorts of amazinghome canned foods for your
family all year long.
If your head is spinning just alittle bit with all the numbers
and processes I mentioned andyou want to can, but you're not
sure where to get started.

(10:51):
I have got you covered.
I created a full ebook completewith all the details and
diagrams and charts you need tostart canning safely right away
without the overwhelm.
Go to www.learnhowtocan.com forall the details, and that's it

(11:12):
for this episode.
It was a short one, but I hopeit gave you some great ideas for
canning at home and inspired youto try it out.
If you've never done it before.
Thanks for listening.
I'd love it if you wouldsubscribe and leave a quick
review over on iTunes.
That's all for now, but I'll seeyou in the next episode of the
old fashioned on purposepodcast.