How Healthy Is Pressure Cooking?

Pressure cooking is a very old technique of preparing food without spending enough time in the kitchen. A few decades ago, using a pressure cooker was considered a bit dangerous. The earlier models were not so advance and were lacking built-in safety mechanisms. Modern systems are best in design offering safety features to allow safe cooking without having to worry about anything.
 
Cooking time is also reduced when food is cooked in a pressurized vessel. By increasing the pressure, the boiling point of water is raised a little. This elevated pressure increases the temperature inside the vessel causing the food to cook quickly.
 
While some argue over the quality of food prepared in a pressure cooker, many people simply prefer to use a pressure cooker to make vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes in a quarter of time. This is because of increase in temperature inside the vessel.
 
In various studies conducted over time, however, it has found that pressure cooking actually preserves more nutrients in comparison with the traditional method of preparing food. Cooking under pressure is said to preserve the ascorbic acid and beta carotene found in spinach and amaranth. Also, it has been proved that it saves around 90% of vitamin C compared to steaming or boiling.

How is it possible? This is because the reduced cooking time. It is not the temperature that matters significantly, but the cooking time. Pressure cooking uses very little water as compared to the traditional methods and the steam is not allowed to escape. As less water comes into the contact of the food, vitamins and minerals are kept preserved.
 
If you go as recommended and allow the cooker cool naturally before removing the lid, you can preserve even more of nutrients. As you let it cook naturally, steam settles down as liquid that you can use in cooking limiting the loss of nutrients. By this way, one can say that pressure cooking is a healthier option than the traditional boiling.

So, you need not to think too much to have this useful utensil in your kitchen for cooking delicious and nutritious food. There are many options available in variety of designs to let you choose from. You can have aluminum and stainless steel pressure cookers to reduce your cooking time while making the food healthy. Latest models available on the market are highly innovative and extremely safe. Take your time to find the one that suits your needs and you can enjoy delicious food without wasting enough time in the kitchen.