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Soaking Produce

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Some of your favorite fruits and vegetables may be in the high potassium group, making it hard to work them into your menus. Soaking them in water before cooking will lower their potassium content quite a bit. This recipe works especially well for potatoes, root vegetables, and melons.

Method:

1. Peel vegetables or fruits and slice thinly, about 1/8 to 1/2 inches thick; rinse them.
   
2. Place sliced vegetables or fruit in a pan of warm water, using 10 times more water than vegetables or fruit.
   
3. Soak for at least 30 minutes.
   
4. Drain off water and rinse vegetables or fruit.
   
5. Fill pan with water again, using 5 times more water than vegetables or fruit.
   
6. Soak for 5 minutes.
   
7. Discard water.

Potatoes that have been prepared this way can now be used in many ways, such as French fried, mashed, scalloped, home fried, etc. You can soak the potatoes ahead of time and store in the freezer until ready for use. They contain only one-fifth as much potassium as fresh potatoes, about 80 mg per 1/2 cup.*

This method removes vitamins from the vegetables and fruits, along with the potassium. Be sure to take your multi-vitamin supplement, and don't serve these foods to the rest of your family too often.

*Dried beans should be cooked and then soaked; canned beans can simply be rinsed and soaked.

Notes

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