Broccoli is one of those foods we’re told to eat as youngsters because it’s good for us. Unfortunately, researchers at the University of Illinois (U of I) found some of that goodness, namely the vegetable’s cancer-protective benefits, doesn’t survive the process its subjected to before reaching the freezers at supermarkets. Thankfully, the researchers followed up their initial research and found a simple way to preserve broccoli’s cancer-fighting properties.
Before broccoli is frozen and packaged, it is standard industry practice to first heat the vegetable to 86° C (187° F) in a process known as blanching to inactivate enzymes that can affect its color, taste and smell over its 18-month shelf life. But Elizabeth Jeffery, a U of I professor of nutrition, and her team found that this process also destroys the enzyme myrosinase which, when brought into contact with glucoraphanin when raw broccoli is chopped or chewed, forms broccoli’s cancer-preventive compound, sulforaphane.
via Gizmag
August 8, 2013
