Potatoes, How You Cook Them Matters


Potatoes, How You Cook Them Matters

1
point

Cooking potatoes is easy as 1, 2, 3 right? You peel them, cut them up and boil them. Not so right, if you want to get maximum nutrition and the abundance of potassium from them on your plate after the potato has been cooked.
Peeling and cutting up potatoes then boiling them depletes the potassium, which the potato is rich in. Deep fried or French fries save some of the potassium in the potato, but then you have a calorie laden high fat potato dish that defeats it healthy nutritional offering.
Since the average American consumes over a 130 pounds of potatoes per year, it makes sense to cook them properly to get the most nutritional value from one of favorite veggies.
If you are going to boil a potato, boil it whole with the skin on, then cut it up. Other cooking methods like baking, roasting or microwaving need to be with a whole potato as well for maximum nutrition.
How you cook a potato matters in terms of what you get from them in nutrition.



user-icon Submitted by HBS on Mon, 2008-10-13 11:29


»

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
shawnandlori's picture

Cooking Potatoes to Retain the Most Vitamins/Minerals

Submitted by shawnandlori on Mon, 2008-10-13 12:42.

This topic was an inspired xombite. Let me add my own tips.

First, NEVER take the skins off your potatoes; most of the vitamins and minerals are in the skin.

Second, do not boil potatoes (or any other vegetable). When you boil a vege, the water tends to absorb the nutrients. This means that you are losing the best part of the vege into the water. Keep in mind that soups are so healthy because the liquid is eaten that is holding most of the vitamins/minerals - Don't you have broth when you are sick or Mom's chicken soup?

Third, fries do not have to be banned. Cut your potatoes into fries, remembering to leave on the skins. Spray them with olive oil or just sprinkle a bit over them. Put them on a large pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes, depending on thickness of fries and your altitude. The olive oil has omega3 fatty acids that help reduce cholesterol. You can even bake your fries without the oil; they'll still taste great, but the outsides will just be a bit crispier than you are used to - Think of them as chips with a soft center.

With respect,
Lori of shawnandlori