Why are nutrients preserved in a pressure cooker?

Answer 1

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To retain the most nutrients possible, most experts recommend that you use as little water as possible and cook foods rapidly because many vitamins are sensitive to water, heat and air exposure (vitamin C, the B vitamins and folate in particular) and water used for cooking can dissolve and wash away water soluble vitamins, while the heat deteriorates them.

Any cooking that minimizes the time, temperature, and water will help to preserve nutrients. Pressure cooking under steam is one of the methods best because it minimizes time and requires little water.

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Answer 2

Nutrients can also be preserved in a water bath.

Let's go through how to can some fruit/vegetables. I learned to can from both of my grandmothers and my mother. Cold pack is a process where raw vegetables like string beans, beets, peaches, etc are washed, (peeled in the case of beets or peaches), and packed into sterilized canning jars. Water and a little salt is also added to each jar (sugar instead of salt is used for fruits) to bring the water up to within an inch of the top. Sterilized lids are loosely fitted on the jars, and the jars are put in a pressure canner along with some water. The canner is sealed and put on heat. Bring the canner up to pressure and hold the pressure for a prescribed period of time. Ball is the name of a company that makes jars and lids for canning. Their canning manual is pretty much the standard for home canning. Consult that and it will tell you how long to cook various fruits and vegetables. Once the pressure has been released from the canner, use hot pads and or tongs to remove and tightly seal the jars. Allow to cool. You will hear a pop each time the heat generated vacuum indents a lid on each jar.

Now, what has happened? Food products are packed in a jar and cooked. Water normally boils at 212 F. The usual pressure to use when canning is 10 PSI (The Ball Canning Book will tell you what to use). Under that pressure, water now boils at 245 to 255 F. The high temps are necessary to kill botulism. But notice that none of the cooking liquids are drained off. They, along with nutrients, are still in the jar. When you eat home canned foods, you can still lose the nutrients. Let's take whole kernel corn for example. Open the jar and put corn and water in a pan to heat. Now, you'll eat the corn but discard the water. There goes some of the nutrients.

Water bath works the same way. High acid foods like sauerkraut or tomatoes are packed the same way. Add water and salt and put the sterilized lids on the sterilized jars. The jars are put in a standard pot that won't create pressure. High acid food doesn't need the higher temperatures. Botulism is killed off at lower temps (212 F) of boiling water.