These Nine Vegetables Healthier For You Cooked Rather Than Raw

[Julieanne]

Laura Brown
June 13 2022

Raw foods and associated diets are a fairly recent trend, including raw veganism.
The belief being that the less processed food is, the better. However, not all food is more nutritious when eaten raw. Indeed, some vegetables are actually more nutritious when cooked. Here are nine of them.

1. Asparagus
All living things are made up of cells, and in vegetables, important nutrients are sometimes trapped within these cell walls. When vegetables are cooked, the walls break down, releasing the nutrients that can then be absorbed more easily by the body. Cooking asparagus breaks down its cell walls, making vitamins A, B9, C and E more available to be absorbed.

2. Mushrooms
Mushrooms contain large amounts of the antioxidant ergothioneine, which is released during cooking. Antioxidants help break down “free radicals”, chemicals that can damage our cells, causing illness and ageing.

Read more: https://thenewdaily.com.au/life/eat-...lthier-cooked/

[grulla]

#7, Brassica, I always thought of them as Cruciferous???

[Julieanne]

They are both.

crucifer

(ˈkruːsɪfə) n1. (Plants) any plant of the family Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae), having a corolla of four petals arranged like a cross and a fruit called a siliqua. The family includes the brassicas, mustard, cress, and wallflower
2. a person who carries a cross

[C16: from Late Latin, from Latin crux cross + ferre to carry]

[Islander]

This is interesting since, by and large, I prefer all of these vegetables cooked. Of course I like carrot sticks and green pepper strips to replace crackers for dips, and I've been known to chow down on a raw asparagus stalk, but you can't use Hollandaise on a heap of raw asparagus! Also, like everybody, I toss diced green peppers (capsicum) in all sorts of stirfries and soups and stews and so forth. But a former boss taught me how to enjoy cooked green peppers. On an occasion where he took us out to eat at a restaurant where he was well known, he ordered sides of green peppers and staff knew exactly what he wanted. Picture a green pepper halved, cored, and each half cut at least in quarters. The result should be a dish full of rather large walls of peppers buttered and salted, and they were so delicious as a side vegetable that I often prepare them that way at home.

[Julieanne]

How were the peppers cooked? Steamed, stir fried?

[Islander]

Steamed until just barely tender, not so overcooked as to be limp.