The food in supermarkets is becoming more and more abundant, but the consumers choosing it are becoming more and more confused. Faced with shelves full of products, dazzled by the array, they don't know how to choose. Let's take a look at the key points for selecting bread. Compare and see which common mistakes you've made.
Examine the health value carefully
Bread always looks very tempting, and its classification is also quite complicated. By use, it can be divided into two categories: "staple bread" and "pastry bread". By texture, it can be divided into four categories: "soft bread", "crust bread", "flaky bread", and "hard bread". By ingredient, it can be divided into three categories: white bread, whole wheat bread, and multi-grain bread.
In terms of calories, crust bread with a crispy crust has the lowest calories because this type of bread is not sweet and contains very little sugar, salt, and fat. After baking, the crust is crispy and hard, and it's very delicious when eaten warm. French staple bread and Russian "borodinsky" belong to this category, and their nutritional value is generally similar to steamed buns. Hard bread and soft bread are made with ingredients like eggs, sugar, milk, and fat, differing only in the amount of water added. "Toast bread", "cream bread", and most decorated pastries that children like are all soft breads. Soft sweet bread contains about 15% sugar and 10% fat, with toast bread containing even more. But because eggs and milk powder are added, its nutritional value is also increased, making it suitable for children.
Try to avoid Danish bread
The highest-calorie bread is flaky bread, also known as "Danish bread". Its characteristic is that it requires 20% to 30% butter or "shortening" to form a special layered structure, and is often made into croissants, raisin flatbreads, chocolate酥包, etc. It has a crispy, soft, and delicious texture, but because it contains too much saturated fat and calories, and may contain "trans fatty acids" which are very detrimental to cardiovascular health, you should try to buy this kind of bread as little as possible, no more than one a week.
Learn to identify whole wheat bread
Most breads are made from white flour, with a soft and delicate texture that is easy to digest and absorb, and extremely low in dietary fiber. Many people with rich nutritional knowledge know that whole wheat bread is more beneficial to health because it is rich in fiber, helps the body clean up intestinal waste, and slows down digestion and absorption, which is helpful for preventing obesity. Children over 2 years old can start trying whole wheat bread to cultivate a good habit of eating "coarse" foods.
Whole wheat bread refers to bread made from whole wheat flour that has not had the bran and germ removed. Its characteristics are a slightly brown color, visible small particles of bran, a relatively coarse texture, but with a pleasant aroma. Because its nutritional value is higher than white bread and it is rich in B vitamins, microorganisms特别喜欢 it, so it is more prone to mold and spoil than ordinary bread.
Consumers should note that a brown color does not necessarily mean the product is whole wheat bread. Some companies, to make the product more appealing to consumers, use white flour to make bread and then add a small amount of caramel color to dye it brown, making it look a bit "dark", but it is essentially still white bread. You must see enough bran fragments to confirm it is whole wheat bread—although the texture is really a bit coarse.
In addition to whole wheat bread, multi-grain breads with various grain ingredients, such as oat bread, rye bread, and soy flour bread, can also provide a lot of dietary fiber.
Purchase attention to freshness
The packaging of all bread will indicate its shelf life: "2 to 3 days for the second and third quarters (spring/summer), 4 to 5 days for the first and fourth quarters (autumn/winter)". When buying, be sure to choose the freshest bread possible. If you buy it when it's about to expire, you should eat it immediately and not let it expire and grow mold at home. If the supermarket is having a sale or discount, you need to be even more careful and check if it is close to its expiration date.
You should know that many food companies, in order to extend the sales time of their products, often play tricks with "advanced production dates". If you buy bread that is about to expire because it's cheap, and you can't finish it in a day or two at home, you'll be in a dilemma: throwing it away is a pity; eating it slowly is very unsafe. If you put it in the refrigerator, the texture will get worse and worse...