frozen fruit vs fresh

[Tony Ferous]

I often buy frozen cultivated blueberries and various frozen mixed berries, the're much cheaper than fresh, convenient and available all year round.

Check this pdf from the usda though, frozen blueberries and strawberrys have far fewer flavonoids that fresh!! argh!

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcom..._FruitFlav.pdf

[Mark Gebhard]

Can someone explain the chemistry on this, cause it makes absolutely no sense to me that freezing would destroy a small molecule.

[Tony Ferous]

Freezing of fruit and veg is always touted as being good to retain their nutrients. However you only have to thaw some blueberries to see that they are not the same as fresh, they are not firm etc, they are in effect damaged i guess(water expands when frozen bursting cells).

[Mike ODonnell]

I would guess most damage to fruits would come from oxidation, not cold temps. So frozen and air tight should retain most all nutrients. Fresh is good...but then again frozen in a blender is easy to drink.

[Frank Needham]

On a purely gut level it seems sensible to me that any type of processing done to food would alter it from the natural state. Freezing seems to fall in the category of processing. Even meat is not quite as good when it has been frozen. Remember how all the juices run out when it thaws and doesn't have the same flavor as before? And, frozen fruits are notorius for having added sugars! arrgh!