Hello guys,
I have two questions for you to answer if you don`t mind.

1.We are all talking here about live fresh produce.
But if we buy our produce on the market (organic) are all the enzymes still present in the food we buying as in most cases whatever we buy was cut off the roots lets say 3 days ago maybe even more.
Don`t enzymes die and vitamins slowly dissapear after a while ?
Could someone explain ?

2.Another thing which I noticed in many raw food preparation movies or recipes is that people often cut of the stems of leafy vegies. For instance Kale or cabbage .... Do you only use the leafy part of it and remove the stem or you put the whole lot into a blender. Is it because some may not have a powerfull blender ?
I thought that stems are packed with vitamins... ?
I have a Vitamix 5000 and it wouldn`t be a dramma to do it ?


Could you please advice...
Tx in advance. Peter

Peter,

There is always some deterioration of plant fibers, and therefore dissipation/leakage of nutrients where storebought produce is concerned. If you are really concerned about this, ask your local market's produce department manager when deliveries occur, and shop on that day at that time, if possible. Produce deliveries are generally frequent, and there's a high turnover, so at a large well-run market, stuff should be relatively fresh(two-three days from harvest). Farmers markets offer stuff that's no more than 3/4 of a day from harvest, so apart from growing your own food, that's the next freshest. I try to shop frequently and consume quickly, and I don't appear to be dying of scurvy, so . . .

If you have a VitaMix, and wish to do so, blend the whole stalk of whatever, stem and leaf. The stem's edible and has nutrients--it's just a tough chew : )

1) Think about how juice is made and I think you will be able to see why vegetables have a reasonable shelf life. Most of the nutrients in the plant are stored in the fiber of the plant. It is like tiny little jugs of juice with the jugs made of plant fiber. The juicer opens these jugs and discards the fiber leaving you the nutrients to drink. The juice has a short shelf life and must be drank quickly in order to have live nutrients otherwise oxidation will destroy the nutrients. To illustrate this you could juice a glass of fresh potato juice and watch how quickly the juice turns brown from oxidation. As the potato juice turns darker and darker brown there are fewer and fewer undamaged nutrients available. So if you prevent oxidation and overheating the nutrients will have a reasonably long shelf life but will go bad after awhile. Fruit is a little different because when it loses its connection to the ground it continues to ripen until its ready to eat after which time it also begins to deteriorate. This makes the ripe fruit a more alive choice then a week old bunch of celery (which is already in a slow deterioration). So if you think about the juicing process and its fast deterioration and refrigerated veggies and its slow deterioration and fruit and its continuing ripening you can see that it is all relative to the type of plant food and its use/storage.

2) I think some people may throw away a lot of the stem as a personal preference issue. Most of the nutrients are in the leaf and not as many nutrients are in the stem. The stem has a lot more sturdy fiber structure to support the plant. I personal like to include some stem in my blending.

oh, EZ rider, I really, Really liked your response! Wonderfully put, very lovely imagery. Thank you for that.

I liked EZ's response too.

One suggestion for Mry,

Veggies keep longer when they're sealed, but fruits should never be sealed up. That includes tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Sealing fruits in any unporous bag or container will make them rot.

Thanks heaps for really helpfull responses !!!
AAA+
Have a great day/night