Frozen Fruits - Are They Good?

Imagine a mouth-watering slice of yellow ripened mango or a bowl of fresh black grapes or sweet juicy apple slices kept in front of you. Who would even try to resist these delicious servings? Fruits are loved by all, but for those who are particularly fond of fruits, just a bite of their favourite fruit makes their meal complete! Fruits - a vital part of our dietary regimen, and yet many of us still manage to skip them every day! Well, blame it on the busy lifestyles of this era making us ignorant or on the sheer laziness of our generation which makes buying a fruit from the market or even washing and cutting ones available at home a herculean task!

"Favourite fruit unavailable all around the year.
' Worry not, when you can just freeze them and eat it whenever you want!

People, who especially love seasonal fruits, often eagerly wait for them to appear in the markets. Those who consume their beloved fruits on a daily basis, still cringe to buy the expensive ones, whereas others, who have a compulsion to consume a specific fruit, say of a medical condition, have no other options but purchase the ones available regardless of the cost. Considering all above scenarios, what if your favourite one is made available every season at a much costeffective rate in your nearby stores? Sounds dreamy, well it's possible and what was for now thought to be a thing in the West is widely available in India too! Though lacking awareness in our country on its nutritional content and safety, frozen fruits are the new generation alternatives available in the supermarkets against their fresh counterparts.

Frozen Fruits-Are They Real?
Yes, advancements in food processing technology have now led us to freeze fruits and vegetables via home freezer or industrial freezing processes. Fruits to be frozen are picked at their peak ripeness, when they are most nutritious and are treated with ascorbic acid (a Vitamin C powder form of vitamin C) or commercial mixtures of added sugars, that interfere with deteriorative chemical reactions stopping the enzymes in the fruit from continuing to ripen it, thus preventing spoilage. A flash-freezing process freezes the fruit within hours of being picked without damaging it, thus quickly preserving its flavours, texture and nutrition.

Frozen Fruits - Delicious, Loaded With Nutriments!
Fruits, in general are sources of vitamins and minerals, vital for maintaining overall health along with bestowing magical benefits of providing protection from chronic diseases, disorders and deficiencies. However, post harvest and the journey from farm to the dining table; these fresh fruits are exposed to pesticides, heat and light, thus compromising their freshness and nutrimental value gradually. Freezing retains the nutrient content available at peak degree of ripeness of a fresh fruit, making frozen fruits as nutritious as their fresh counterparts. They are also loaded with even higher levels of certain essential nutrients like the water-soluble vitamins: B vitamins and vitamin C, which are normally lost in the fresh varieties.

All Good - But Any Underlying Pitfalls?
Freezing done using a sweetener is a concern, specially fruits like cherries, peaches and strawberries which may contain added sugars, and can spike up your calorie levels. A cup of frozen blueberries with added sugar will provide more than twice as many calories as the unsweetened frozen blueberries. Therefore, while buying frozen fruits check the label to ensure just the fruit's name, as an ingredient.

Drastic freezing process may have a little effect on a few antioxidant levels of fresh fruits, such as decreasing beta-carotene levels without affecting ascorbic acid levels in peaches. Having a good mix of fresh and frozen fruits in such cases, can be a good way to get a rich supply of antioxidants.

Some fruits with high water content like watermelon and oranges may become pulpy upon defrosting, whereas some lose their colour when thawed, but good news is they still remain safe and good to eat.

Frozen fruits are under-appreciated nutritional powerhouses. Do not confuse them to be expensive, artificial or chemical loaded foodstuff; for they are real fresh, delectable fruits, with a conveniently long shelf life or even a year-round availability, also costing much lower as compared to fresh ones!