With the rampant spread of processed food and the day to day struggle of keeping oneself healthy, you might be wondering “can you juice frozen fruits?” A short and simple answer is a three-letter word; Y-E-S. Real talk, no one can stop you from juicing frozen fruits. No one can even stop you from juicing anything! But what’s the real deal with frozen fruits?
What Happens When a Fruit is Frozen?
Freezing is one of the most effective ways to preserve food. Compared with drying and salting, where food eventually turns bad, freezing can preserve food longer to the point that the food won’t spoil until it’s taken out and thawed! How lit is that?
Getting food to the freezing point will stop it from spoiling. This method can also be applied to all the food you could think of—meat and other meat products can be frozen and thawed without losing nutritional value. However, when we talk about fruits and vegetables, there are some losses that should be accounted for.
To some degree, a small portion of vitamins and minerals lose its integrity when being frozen. But once they are frozen, they retain their integrity until they are thawed. However, you need to fret not for the fraction of nutrient loss during the washing, and the freezing process is barely negligible.
Frozen Fruits vs. Fresh Fruits: The Face Off
Fresh fruits that are meant to be sold at grocery stores are picked a few weeks or a few days before they are ripe. This is done so that the fruits will have sufficient time to ripen before they are placed on the grocery shelves. Of course, different fruits coming from different places will take a few days before they arrive at your local grocery store.
If the fruits were picked at their prime, they will be mushy or will start to rot just right after they were delivered. Each and every passing day that these fruits are not bought, they gradually lose their nutritional value.
On the other hand, fruits that will undergo freezing are picked from their bushes or trees at their optimal ripeness. This means that these fruits have collected better nutrition from its source until the day they are picked.
Sure, they lose a bit of vitamin and minerals in the washing and freezing process. However, the number of nutrients they have can be at par, if not better, than what you can buy fresh from the grocery store.
Usually, these fruits are frozen just a few hours after harvesting. Technically, they are freezing fruits in their freshest state! This is one of the major reasons why frozen fruits can potentially be better than fresh fruits from the grocery.
Frozen Fruits vs. Fresh Fruits Out of Season
We have all been consuming fruits and vegetables that are in season. Some of the reasons why this is the case are (1) they are at their most nutritious and probably most delicious state, (2) they are abundant, and (3) they come cheaper because farmers have more yields during this time of the year.
Meanwhile, fresh fruits out of their season are very expensive mainly because the process of farming them off their season is more tedious since the weather is not in their favor. They may also taste slightly different from the fruits in season and tend to have lesser nutritional value. Simply put, frozen berries are more nutritious than out-of-season fresh berries.
The Nutritional Content of Frozen Fruits
There are funding studies that carefully gathered data and experimented to see if frozen fruits are less valuable than fresh fruits. From the many kinds of research performed, they have found that vitamins, polyphenols, beta-carotene, anthocyanins, and other essential enzymes of the fruit are not destroyed during the freezing process.
Can you juice frozen fruits? Well, you absolutely can! In fact, they can be more nutritious than the fresh fruits available at groceries. If you are wondering how to juice frozen fruits, just keep on reading to find out.
How to Juice Frozen Fruits
Juicing frozen fruits is no different from juicing fresh fruits. The only thing you should do first is to thaw your fruits before sticking them in the feeding chamber of your juicer. Now there are powerful juicers out there that may be able to handle frozen fruits. However, they may wear too quickly if you will be doing this on a regular basis.
If you want to be a little cautious, here’s what you can do:
1. Cut the fruits you will juice into about 2-inch pieces if they aren’t already small.
2. Feed your fruits a piece at a time into the juicer so that it will not choke.
3. When you’re done feeding all your frozen fruits, continue running your juicer for a few more seconds to extract all the juices from your fruits.
4. Pour your juice into a glass using a strainer.
5. Chill and enjoy!
Juicing at Its Finest
Don’t we all want a better and healthier body? Yes, I believe we do! Supplementing our regular diet with a highly nutritious fruit or vegetable juice means we get the most out of them; more vitamins and hence a healthier body. This highly concentrated drink can boost the immune system and keep sickness at bay.
The catch is, your favorite fruit is not always available at the grocery store, and if they are it’s out of season so you can expect them to be more expensive. What do you do? You find an alternative to your fresh fruit.
For the last time, can you juice frozen fruits? Yes, you can! In fact, the nutritional qualities of frozen fruits are quite astounding as compared to fresh fruits. There was a time when we are all skeptic about frozen stuff, but thanks to research and our diligent experts for opening our eyes and revealing that frozen fruits and produce are not the enemies but friends.
