How to clean and prepare food

Experienced vegetarians insist that there is little to know about what foods are good for vegetarianism. It is also necessary to figure out how to properly clean them and prepare them for cooking and use, so as not only to squeeze the maximum benefit out of them, but also in some cases not to get poisoned. They willingly share their advice and recommendations on forums and festivals of healthy food and raw food, so visiting and overhearing them can bring out a lot of new things.

The need for cleaning and preparation

Few people know that delicious and healthy vegetarian products can unwittingly carry a lot of unpleasant surprises. For example, grains or legumes purchased on the market sometimes become stained or become a haven for barely noticeable bugs, vegetables and fruits – a storage of nitrates and pesticides, and nuts – a sponge for dust accumulation. Needless to say, all these substances have a detrimental effect not only on the taste of dishes prepared from these products, but also on the general condition of the body. Therefore, it is necessary to get rid of them. Moreover, for this there are several simple and effective ways, but first things first.

crops

It is advisable to sift and rinse any cereals before cooking. This will remove the resulting flour, husks, dust, unnecessary impurities from it. Along with this, you can and should use little culinary tricks that help to improve the taste or appearance of cereals. For example, experienced chefs recommend scalding millet groats with boiling water just before cooking, due to which it will lose its characteristic bitter taste. And also fry a little in a dry frying pan so that later the porridge from it turns out to be fragrant and crumbly.

pulse

Before cooking, the legumes must be sorted out, removing unnecessary impurities from them, and rinsed a couple of times in cold water. This is especially true of or mung-dala. The fact is that it is extremely difficult to buy them in our area, except in specialized retail outlets or in markets where they are sold under the name “Uzbek lentils”, or “”. It is in them that small pebbles and those very barely noticeable bugs can come across. The presence of insects will be indicated by the characteristic small holes in the beans, so the latter must be carefully examined.

By the way, these insects can also settle in homemade cereals. Runet has a huge amount of information regarding their removal. Nevertheless, most often it comes down to processing the containers in which they were stored with a saturated soapy solution and placing the cereals themselves in the freezer for two days. Of course, it is reasonable to do this only if they have not yet been hit by bugs, otherwise they should be thrown away.

There are also a few tricks for cooking legumes. In order to shorten the cooking time, it is enough to soak them in cold water (no higher than 15 ° C) for 6 – 8 hours. Due to this, they will swell and subsequently retain their shape.

Nuts

The preparation of nuts for consumption and cooking largely depends on whether they have been peeled or not. The fact is that it is enough to rinse the peeled kernels with warm water and dry them. This will remove dust and other impurities from them. True, they are many times more expensive than their unrefined counterparts, so they are purchased less often. And is it advisable when there are a lot of ways to quickly and easily peel the kernels from the shell. Judge for yourself:

• – for easy removal of the shell, they are soaked for 10 – 15 minutes in hot water, and then laid out on a cutting board, covered with a towel on top. It remains only to break them with a hammer or rolling pin and sort them out. Another option is that the nuts are heated in a hot frying pan, after which they are poured into cold water with ice.
• … They need to be poured with boiling water in an enamel bowl, draining it literally in 10 minutes. This will allow the entire kernel to be removed from the shell simply by splitting it with a knife. In addition, you can always put them in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes, set the temperature in it to 200 ° C, and then simply cover with a towel and break with a rolling pin.
• … To clean it, a regular garlic press is suitable, after which they must be dried in the oven.
• … If you dry it a little in the oven at 180 ° C (no more than 5 minutes), and then wrap the cooled nuts in a towel and roll it out with a rolling pin, the shell will come off by itself.
• … In order to remove the shell from it, you just need to throw the nuts into boiling water for a couple of minutes, and then put them on a board to cool. Now it remains to place them in a bag, rub with a rolling pin and sift through a sieve. Peeled almonds, if desired, can be additionally dried in the oven.

Vegetables and fruits

The biggest danger they can store in themselves is traces of toxic chemicals. From year to year, with the onset of the summer season, experts give recommendations on the choice of safe and healthy fruits. Most often, they boil down to the fact that it is better to refuse to buy unnaturally large, neat, bright fruits without appropriate documentation. At the same time, it is necessary to purchase aromatic seasonal vegetables and fruits that are typical for our region simply because their storage and transportation does not require an additional portion of chemical processing. Also, when choosing between two fruits of the same size from different manufacturers, it is better to give preference to the one whose specific gravity turns out to be greater. This indicates that there is less chemistry in it. This means that the risk of developing severe allergic reactions and poisoning, pancreatitis, cancer of the bladder, breast and kidney, in the case of them is reduced to zero.

Along with this, it is worth remembering about the preparation of each specific vegetable or fruit for cooking, because there are also secrets here:

• … From the newly acquired head, it is necessary to remove the upper leaves and cut the stump. The latter also accumulates nitrates, if they were used.
• … According to experts, it accumulates chemistry under the skin and in the core. Moreover, most often it is not necessary to cut them out. It is enough just to drain the first water when it boils, thereby peeling the vegetable.
• … Few people know that nightshades accumulate maximum nitrates. They differ from others by the presence of a thick peel. Therefore, experts recommend that, if possible, abandon them, as well as the fruits of an unnatural orange-red color, which look a little unripe. By the way, the presence of chemicals can show not only the appearance of vegetables, but also a sectional view. In this case, the presence of white flesh and thick veins is noted. Nevertheless, even if they were noticed immediately before cooking, it is better to pour the fruits with them with cold water and leave in it for an hour. This will make them safe for health.
• … They say that the early healthy fruits are easy to recognize by their color: it should be gentle herbal. Accordingly, the first dark green vegetables that appear on the shelves are best avoided, however, as well as very soft ones or those that do not have seeds and an elastic tail. When purchasing cucumbers out of season, it is also important to remember that they are most likely treated with paraffin, therefore they need to be peeled.
• and. You can feast on and protect yourself in the case of them by simply peeling and cutting off the stalks. This is always the most “sore spot” for them.
• … Everything is simple here: dangerous fruits give themselves away by the presence of uneven fibrous stripes on the skin, so they should be avoided.
• Beets, carrots, radishes. The maximum of harmful substances they accumulate in the tips and tops of root crops, so they must be cut off. In the case of carrots, it is worth removing the green part and the tip of the tail 1 cm long. In addition, you must refuse to buy beets with a twisted tail.
• , parsley, green salad. They can accumulate nitrates in the petioles and veins, so it is better to throw them away, and soak the greens themselves in cool water for an hour just before eating. Simply because it absorbs chemistry the fastest.
• Grapes. As a rule, it lends itself to treatment with fungicides, which significantly extend its shelf life. A weak solution of soda allows you to get rid of them, in which it is better to wash the grapes before use.
• … They have long earned the title of one of the most nitrate fruits, especially when it comes to imported fruits, so they always need to be peeled. In addition, you should not buy apples in early spring, because without additional chemical treatment, they can only lie in the basement until February. After that, beautiful and appetizing-looking fruits are actually treated with paraffin with the addition of harmful substances. You can also be convinced of its presence by the characteristic oily film that appears on the skin when it is poured with boiling water.
• Pears. Before buying them, you should feel them, immediately refusing sticky, slippery fruits. They have probably been treated with biphenyl, which can prolong their shelf life and maintain a presentable appearance. By the way, this substance has long been banned in the United States and the European Union, calling it an allergenic and carcinogenic drug. Meanwhile, even if the peel is clean, it is still better to cut it off.
• … Fragrant, mouth-watering fruits cut in half should always be discarded. Simply because they are an excellent breeding ground for microbes and bacteria, however, as well as from fruits with thick yellowish veins, which can appear with additional feeding. To make sure that it is absent, a simple test helps, in which the pulp is poured with water for a couple of minutes. If it just dimmed, there is no chemistry in the berry, and if it changed color, it is present.
• Onions, sorrel, legumes. As a rule, they have the lowest nitrate content, so it is enough to leave them in cool water for a while.

Summing up the above, it is worth noting that it is almost impossible to find vegetables and fruits that were grown completely without the use of nitrates. After all, all plants need the latter. Another thing is in their quantity, which, most often, at the first successful opportunity, they easily give out. Therefore, carefully examine them and the rest of the products that you purchase, and then life will sparkle with bright colors, and the body after many years will say: “Thank you!”