Does freezing green veggies damage nutrients?

[acdean]

I like to freeze fresh kale and then use them to make green smoothies. I find that frozen kale enhances the texture of the smoothies as opposed to raw kale. Does anyone know if freezing harms the nutrients? I choose kale over other green veggies because it is supposed to packed with nutrients and has a taste that goes well with pineapple and bananas.

[Green Life]

Yes, freezing does damage enzymes about 30 to 60%. It breaks down the molecules which make up the cell structures for the enzymes.

Nuts freeze well,however because the moistue content is minimal. The lower the moisture content of the food, the less damage occurs in freezing.


Green

[EZ rider]

Fresh from the tree or plant or ground or sprout is the best

[Suz58]

When you freeze green beans without blanching them they still go stringy as the enzymes that make that happen are not destroyed. I would say that frozen greens will always be better than cooked but perhaps not quite as good as fresh.

[acdean]

Thanks for the replies. I always thought veggies maintained their nutrients when frozen. I guess I was wrong.

[EZ rider]

When you freeze green beans without blanching them they still go stringy

If freezing veggies is good then why does the produce have to be blanched ?

[Suz58]

If freezing veggies is good then why does the produce have to be blanched ?

Green beans are blanched to stop them going stringy, unless you have a special type for freezing without blanching.
With other things I guess its just habit, people just want to cook everything!

[lily]

I froze some mung beans which I'd soaked overnight and were ready to start sprouting, but I was going away, so thought I'd freeze them and do them when I got back.

Yesterday I took them out of the freezer and when they had defrosted they were really soggy -- not a hope in hell of getting them to sprout... this made me realise that freezing is not a good thing... quite an eye-opener to me as I like to make big batches of dehydrated food and keep it in the freezer...

So I'd keep freezing as a last resort...

lily

[EZ rider]

I froze two nice solid ready to eat bananas that were nice and firm and froze them with the skins on. When I took them out and let them thaw enough to get the skins off the bananas inside were very mushy. Has this happened to anyone else ? How can I freeze them so the bananas don't turn to mush ?

[jessirose]

I always peel, and cut up my bananas to freeze them. They look the same as they did freshly peeled. We like to use the bananas frozen in smoothies to keep it all colder/frozen, and nicer consistency.