Home Canning: Does Cooking Vegetables Remove Nutrients?

Many of us can because we believe the resulting food is healthier. But does cooking vegetables remove nutrients?

By Rebecca Sanderson
Updated on July 29, 2023
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by AdobeStock/pamela_d_mcadams

Last canning season, a frustrated reader told us he couldn’t find answers to the following questions: Does cooking vegetables remove nutrients? And are canned vegetables healthy for us? Here’s detailed information on how the canning process affects the nutritional quality of the foods we eat.

People preserve their home-grown produce for a multitude of reasons, including to save money, but largely because they believe the answer to the question “Are canned vegetables healthy?” is a resounding “Yes!” Health-conscious people grow gardens to optimize the nutritional quality of the produce they eat by harvesting at peak ripeness and then canning it for their home pantries. But canning, especially pressure canning of low-acid produce, involves high heat. So, does cooking vegetables remove nutrients, and are home-canned vegetables healthy?

Nutritional Benefits of Fresh Food

Let’s begin by considering the nutritional quality of fresh, unprocessed food, which possesses both macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients are proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids or fats. These are chemically and structurally determined and incredibly difficult to change. The primary ways they can be altered is through the breaking down of starches or denaturing of proteins in high heat.

Here, I’ll primarily focus on micronutrients — minerals, vitamins, and phytochemicals. Minerals are inorganic and typically pure elements, such as calcium, iron, and magnesium. Plants get minerals from the soil in which they’re grown, absorbing them as they take up water. Healthy soil produces nutritious plants.

Freshly harvested beetroots on the ground. Beetroot
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