What preparation strategy effectively reduces oxalate levels in vegetables like spinach?
Answer
Boiling in large amounts of water and discarding the water
Oxalates possess the chemical characteristic of being water-soluble. This solubility allows for a straightforward mitigation strategy during food preparation specifically targeting oxalate reduction. By boiling vegetables high in oxalates, such as spinach, in a generous volume of water, the oxalates leach out of the vegetable tissues and dissolve into the cooking water. When this cooking water is subsequently discarded, the concentration of oxalates remaining in the vegetable is significantly lowered. This process is an effective method for improving the bioavailability of calcium that was otherwise tightly bound by the oxalates when the food was raw or only lightly steamed.
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