refridgerating

[Cerellia]

Can food,, which has been exposed totemperatures below 0°, be regarded as fresh? Does refridgerating kill enzyms or vitamins?
I really would like to make icecream out of bananas and berries; do you think this is still living food?

[Dimond]

Refrigerating doesn't kill the food. Otherwise we couldn't have raw food since most of it needs to be kept cold after a few hours. Ice cream needs to be kept in the freezer. Frozen isn't as ideal, but is still raw.

[Cerellia]

Thanks. I was talking about freezing below sero (I see that I did not express that right).
Does it have all nutriens and enzyms intact and does it harm your body to swallow frozen stuff like ice cream?

[T-Bird]

I avoid frozen, but will sometimes use frozen banana's to make a "treat"

I would never buy a bag of say - frozen berries now. I had one of frozen strawberries melt accidentally - they looked worse than cooked.

Maybe they steam pasteurize them before freezing??? Who knows. Only if I froze then myself would I trust it, and then - I try for fresh all the time.

[Cerellia]

I was not going to by the frozen fruits or vegetables from the supermarket (they have a bad reputation even among SAD eaters). I was thinking of making an icecream out of fresh bananas and berries, just these two incrediences.

[Aleesha Sattva]

i looooooooooove using stuff from the freezer myself. i make fresh juices and freeze them... i make raw food desserts and freeze them. no big deal IMO... still waaaaaaaaaay healthier than cooked food!

it's a personal choice... one only YOU can make for yourself.

[RawSar]

I did read somewhere that when freezing fruit and veggies you do lose some of the nutrients in it, I can't remember where I read this though. If I run across it again I will post the info here.
Frozen (especially from your fresh produce) is better than cooked, I doubt you lose anywhere near the amount of nutrients as you would cooking.
I don't think it's healthy to have frozen foods all the time, it's gotta be a pretty big shock to your system. I think it takes more energy for your system to bring that food to regular temp.

[mousebandit]

Just reading some old threads, and wanted to add to this. Frozen veggies have been "blanched" before freezing - they dip them briefly in boiling water, specifically to kill the enzymes that would otherwise cause unfavorable changes in appearance and taste after freezing. Frozen fruits aren't processed prior to freezing, but the high water content in them causes the cell membranes to rupture when frozen (water expansion) and then they are slimy and sad once thawed. Sprinkling with some pectin (which I'm sure isn't raw anyways) prior to freezing helps some, but not enough, imho. All this is from memory of my food preservation classes 2 years ago, so I hope I got all the details right. Short story - frozen veggies aren't raw (unless you did it yourself) and frozen fruit is usually slimy when thawed, but good for putting in smoothies and ice cream treats while still frozen.

HTH!
Tracey R.