The fact that a food item is fried yet healthy seems hard to believe. However, it’s not always so! Against the common perception, fried food can be healthy too.
Fried food is loved by everyone, the taste and crunch are unmatched! Fried food is addictive!
Despite being so tempting ,food items prepared using traditional methods of frying are extremely unhealthy for one’s body. During the process, the food item is completely immersed in the boiling hot oil which results in subsequent increase in the trans fat and cholesterol content in the food item.
To keep the taste of traditional frying while maintaining a healthy balance of nutrients, Vacuum frying technique is used.
The modern technique of Vacuum frying has made frying healthy. Vacuum frying is a process of putting the food item into a vacuum chamber and cooking it at low temperature. Cooking the food item at low heat in the vacuum container is what sets vacuum frying apart from the traditional method of frying . The food inside the chamber is cooked using atmospheric pressure and uses 70% less oil. The temperature of the chamber is kept low which decreases the boiling point and further helps in retaining all the nutrients. The technique also leads to lowering the discharge of carcinogens – the radiations that promote the formation of Cancer.
Modern Vs Traditional Method
Along with being as tasty as traditionally fried snacks, vacuum fried snacks are also much healthier and nutrient rich. Vacuum frying is an innovative method of cooking which helps in reducing the oil consumption and absorption in the food items which can often be seen floating on the surface of the food item.
Consumes less oil – Since the traditional method of frying absorbs a considerable amount of oil, the fat content is far higher which often leads to lifestyle ailments like obesity, cardiac diseases, high cholesterol, diabetes, stroke, etc. On the contrary, vacuum fried items consume 70% less oil and hence, the fat content is comparatively much lower which reduces the danger of such life-threatening diseases and takes care of cholesterol and heart health.
Keeps the nutrients intact – While using traditional methods of frying, the temperature of the oil is extremely high, as a result of this, many essential nutrients are evaporated with steam leaving the item deprived of nutrients. When a food item is fried using the vacuum frying technique, only the water content is removed keeping all other nutrients intact.
Reduced oil temperature – Even the temperature of oil plays an important role, in traditional methods, food is fried at 100 degrees Celsius which converts the food into junk while in vacuum frying the fruits, vegetables, and other items are fried at a comparatively lower temperature with less oil.
A study conducted by Pontificia Universidad Catolica, Chile on the health benefits of vacuum frying includes findings that show that vacuum fried potato chips contain 50% less oil compared to regular fried potato chips, and close to 95% of Vitamin C content was retained.
Traditionally fried food is undoubtedly tasty and might attract kids with its taste and flavours but it’s definitely not good for their health. There are many healthy snacking options available within the markets like Yummiano which are cooked using the vacuum frying technique and are extremely healthy and taste equivalent . So next time you feel like binge eating a bag filled with chips, roll in the hay guilt-free by choosing those cooked using the vacuum frying technique. If cooked using the proper technology and technique, fried food can be healthy too.