Dehydrating and processing of foods are both done in order to preserve the foods for longer. These come in really handy when you are in a rush or at other times it is inconvenient to make and prepare food. These are both tasty and easy to get. Let us explore which is a better way to preserve food.
Dehydrating
It is one of the oldest methods of preserving food. You can either sun-dry or use a food dehydrator. The process is very simple and retains most of the nutrients. The food is preserved as the moisture content is reduced, which inhibits the growth of organisms which could spoil it.
There are several benefits offered by dehydrated foods over processed foods, some of them are as follows:
- It retains the taste and appearance of the original food, along with its nutritive value.
- Dehydrated food requires less space for storage, as compared to frozen, canned or processed foods.
- You can easily dehydrate food at home, and thus dehydrating is far more wallet-friendly. The dehydrated food is no less tasty than the processed foods and makes a very delicious & nutritious snack.
Processed Foods
The processed foods that we all get from the supermarket are prepared using certain chemicals as well as physical treatments, thus, they are quite different than the original state of the food. Such treatments are done in order to increase the longevity of the food. Sometimes they have synthetic additives which are not really healthy. Big brands claim such food to be ‘pure’, but it is far different from being natural. But, then again all processed foods are not bad, for example milk that is technically processed too (pasteurized, and skimmed). Let us look at the major advantages offered by these processed foods:
- Fortification - Processed foods are often fortified with vitamins and minerals. Though these added nutrients are hard for the body to absorb, but then something is better than nothing at all.
- Ease -These are easily available in market, and one can easily get them and relish. There’s a huge variety and it saves you work.
Dehydrating is definitely a better way for preservation as compared to processed and canned foods. With dehydration, the food is still considered ‘natural’ and ‘raw’, since it retains most of the nutrients. And, these nutrients, vitamins and minerals get absorbed as easily as in their original state, unlike processed foods.