My stupid question for the day

[NeGaGal]

OK... I've read that frozen veggies are not 'raw' because they are blanched before freezing. What about frozen fruits?

In a perfect world should everything I eat be fresh, never frozen? There are a lot of fruits that this will limit for finding fresh most of the year.

I know that's stupid...but I'm really not sure about this.

Karla

[Veganforlife]

First off - no question is stupid. It's how we learn.

Second. I freeze A LOT of things. Back in the day when humans gathered their foods and winter months came around - you better bet they gathered frozen berries and nuts and such.

I think it's okay...

Fruits that is. Veggies - nah - they ARE blanched...

[LotsaRaw]

Or - you could just buy veggies in bulk & freeze yourself :)

I do this with fruits & veggies

[DebB]

Hi Karla ~ I'm another one that freezes, well - just about everything! If it's not getting used up fast enough, I tend to freeze it (or dehydrate it).

Today I peeled 8 mangos that I wasn't getting to quick enough. I put them in the food processor and blended. Then I portioned them out into small containers and froze them. I can thaw these in the future and pop into smoothies. -Or- something we love - take the frozen mango disc and break it up into the FP, then add
1-2 bananas (to taste) and blend. It will be a cold pudding and it is soooo good! Sometimes I'll use fresh mangos and then frozen bananan. I like using one of them frozen so it'll be icy cold.

I also had 3 pears that weren't getting eaten, so into the FP, I pureed them and poured them out onto a Paraflex sheet and they're in the D right now - pear leather. I had chunked them up a couple weeks ago and tossed them into the freezer. So I thawed them a bit, FP'd them and when I tasted them - OH MY!!! I think I'll do this again just for some frozen pear sorbet!

I plan on buying lots of organic greens this summer at the Farmer's Market and freezing them. It'll sure beat paying $3 for a scrawny bunch of them during the winter.

We D a lot of fruit too. YUM! I could go on and on, you know me! *Ü*

[juliebove]

Most frozen fruit is not blanched, but to be sure you'd have to call the company or perhaps visit their website if they have one.

[Dimond]

Most frozen fruit isn't raw and they use additives. Cascadian Farms is one that is raw. Others, you'd have to ask the companies how they process it and what other ingredients they use.

[SweetTangerine]

When i buy frozen fruit I am sure to buy organic with no sugar added. I don't notice any adverse affects when I consume it.

[cmechange]

I thought the whole idea of raw food are the enzymes that are in LIVE foods. If we freeze them, don't we freeze the enzymes as well and kill them?

I know it's acceptable for fruits to be frozen, so I wonder about those enzymes.

[Veganforlife]

I thought the whole idea of raw food are the enzymes that are in LIVE foods. If we freeze them, don't we freeze the enzymes as well and kill them?

I know it's acceptable for fruits to be frozen, so I wonder about those enzymes.

It's such a minute amount that are disturbed by freezing, I personally don't worry about it.

I can't dissect this healthy, healing way of eating. I never dissected what I ate when eating crappily. With this way of eating, I pick and choose my battles.

The majority of my fruits and veggies are organic so I feel I am eating tons better then back in the day...

[lady8]

My husband and I are both 100% raw vegans. We routinely use frozen fruit to make our banana "ice creams". Fruits are flash frozen so they are ok to eat.:)

[ssandee]

It's such a minute amount that are disturbed by freezing, I personally don't worry about it.

I can't dissect this healthy, healing way of eating. I never dissected what I ate when eating crappily. With this way of eating, I pick and choose my battles.

The majority of my fruits and veggies are organic so I feel I am eating tons better then back in the day...

I am so glad I found this thread, tho it may be a bit old. I am new to raw (about 10 weeks now), and have been theorizing for a couple weeks now: wouldn't the gorgeous, beautiful organic greens (lol! gorgeous? greens?) that I have been purchasing from the local farmer's market be MUCH better, even frozen, than the unknown whimpy greens available mid winter? I acknowledge that fresh is always better, I agree with VeganforLife, I am eating much better than I ever did before, and I am not going to worry about what minute amounts of nutritional support I am going to lose by freezing.
Blanching? I have already tried a couple of experiments: After cleaning and spinning dry, I have thrown a couple of bunches each of kale (3 varieties), chard, carrot tops, collards into individual smoothie serving size regular ol' paper lunch bags, wrapped a rubber band around the lunch bag, labeled them and just threw them into the freezer as is.
The next day they are frozen, crisp, tear open the lunch size bag, and the 'frozen greens' are added to what ever the fruit of the day is. My VitaMix seems to handle it well.
Can't tell any difference in taste, texture, plus! it's chilled!.
For my 'experiments' I used just regular brown paper lunch size bags that I had on hand, but I am looking for a source of unbleached, wax paper lunch size bags, to stuff my cleaned greens in. Naturally, the frozen greens, once thawed can't be used as fresh, are no longer suitable for anything but smoothies, but as a 'beginner' two of my meals are currently green smoothies, and I speculate that practice will continue for at least one of my daily meals (sooo easy and good) as I broaden my horizons. My 'experiments' seem to be working so well, I am going to see if my favorite organic farmer will give me a special price if I buy a case at a time of her gorgeous, beautiful greens.

Has there been any studies out there about frozen fresh greens?

Thanks...I have been learning so much from all of you!
ssandee

[DebB]

I agree also ~ I'm trying to stop worrying about every little thing. I just do what feels right to me and I call it good.

I also plan on freezing greens for use in green smoothies. I may try blending them first... I don't know yet as I haven't experimented around yet with them.

I freeze fruit all the time for my smoothies. I never worry about buying too much fruit because if I have more than I can eat - I freeze it. Bananas I peel, break in half and flash freeze, then once frozen I Food Save them. Pineapple - I typically puree it, freeze in small deli-type containers, then pop them out if I'm not going to use them soon and Food Save (FS). I do the same with mango. I just picked a bunch of apricots and pureed some and halved the others and FS.

It works for me! *Ü*