What specific cooking technique is recommended to mitigate the loss of water-soluble vitamins like Vitamin C in runner beans?
Answer
Blanching—briefly immersing them in rapidly boiling water followed immediately by an ice bath
To preserve heat-sensitive, water-soluble nutrients like Vitamin C, the text specifically recommends blanching. This technique involves a very short exposure to high heat (rapidly boiling water) followed immediately by rapid cooling (an ice bath). This quick thermal shock sets the bright green color, which is a visual indicator of nutrient preservation, and achieves tenderness quickly, minimizing the time nutrients have to leach out into the cooking water, which is often discarded when boiling. Prolonged boiling is specifically cited as a technique that leaches these vitamins out.

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