In the present study, the impact of the different steps (i.e. blanching, freezing, storage following the industrial
freezing process and the final cooking prior to consumption) of the industrial freezing process was evaluated
on colour, chlorophylls, lutein, polyphenols and ascorbic acid content of asparagus, green beans and zucchini.
In addition, the domestic boiling of raw samples was compared with the boiling of frozen storage vegetables.
Results showed that the blanching treatment retained phytochemicals in all studied green vegetables and the
frozen storage up to 2 months did not negatively affected phytochemicals, in particular lutein and flavonoids
in almost all samples. On the contrary, colour significantly changed during blanching and frozen storage. The
changes of b* (yellowness) and the shift of H° (hue angle) were not coherent with the increase of pheophytin.
In addition, the greenness (−a*) was found to increase with the exception of boiled samples in all vegetables.
Generally, in boiled frozen vegetables there was a better or comparable retention of bioactive compounds with
respect to raw ones, and this was especially true for green beans and zucchini. Colour changes after cooking
did not exhibit the same trends among vegetables, being more remarkable for frozen asparagus in comparison
with those boiled from raw, but overall comparable for green beans and zucchini.
In conclusion, the overall results of the present study suggest that, when the industrial freezing process is well
performed, the boiled frozen vegetables do not have a lower nutritional value than the fresh ones.
