Cooking vegetables gently

In short: Gentle cooking preserves colour, taste and nutrients. Sweating, steaming and brief blanching are particularly suitable.

In more detail: Vitamin C and B vitamins are sensitive to heat and water.

In detail

• Steaming: The vegetables sit above the steam and stay firm; little leaching.
• Braising lightly: In a little fat and liquid in a covered pot.
• Blanching: Briefly in boiling water, then ice water; colour stays, good before freezing.
• Boiling: Little water, short time; use the cooking water for soups.
• Roasting and oven: Flavours through roasting (maillard-reaktion).
• Fresh and uncut: Wash and cut only just before cooking.
• Doneness: Al dente is usually best.
• Raw: Some vegetables raw, others (tomato, carrot) better utilised cooked; variety counts (nudeln-richtig-kochen).