WILD LIFE IN MY NEW RAINFOREST

WILD LIFE IN MY NEW RAINFOREST
VIA ONE RAINFOREST TO ANOTHER - thought these guys were more appropriate. I see their cousins every day

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Note to Self

Don't cut up watermelon just before lunch. I have a great clerk who chooses my watermelon for me and he is never wrong. Always, a completely perfect little globe of  delightful, thirt quenching, satisfyingly cool refreshment . And I know he knows what he is doing, because I have occasionally purchased a watermelon in JB using one of the clerks there. Never the same result - in fact I tossed out more than half of the last one I bought there. My Kota Tinggi guy is the best watermelon chooser I know.
Anyway, I must not cut it up for the fridge and then try to eat lunch. I tend to eat half of the watermelon when I chop it up. I use a cleaver and chunk it into large triangles and then store in a glass jar in the fridge so I have a quick treat at my fingertips. There is always a lot of watermelon left on the rind when I do this, so I gnaw the pieces before I discard them. Leaving me with a full belly after this preperation for the days ahead.
Contrary to what you may think, watermelon can be cut up and stored for several days (except it only lasts a few in my house) without any loss of nutrients or flavour. Here is what I found on the internet regarding a study of this.

After 6 days, losses in vitamin C were less than 5% in the watermelon, mango, and strawberry pieces, 10% in pineapple pieces, 12% in kiwifruit slices, and 25% in cantaloupe cubes.

No losses in carotenoids were found in the watermelon cubes and kiwifruit slices. Pineapples lost 25%, followed by 10-15% in cantaloupe, mango, and strawberry pieces.

No significant losses in phenolic phytonutrients were found in any of the fresh-cut fruit products.

"Contrary to expectations, it was clear that minimal processing had almost no effect on the main antioxidant constituents. The changes in nutrient antioxidants observed during nine days at five degrees Celsius would not significantly affect the nutrient quality of fresh cut fruit.
As for wielding the cleaver, I am totally impressed with my skills. For you who know my culinary expertise, I cannot dice with a darn. That is what a food processor is for, isn't it? Well, no food processor here, so I finally found a cleaver, and I can dice with the best. Must have some Asian ancestry in me.

No comments:

Post a Comment