Abstract
The effects of cooking methods and storage time on folate content in spinach were determined by boiling for 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10 and 20min in distilled water or by microwave blanching for 20, 40, 60, 80, 100 sec. The folate content of cooked spinach was decreased to 80.7% after 1min boiling, and to 5.5% after 20min boiling. The folate recovered from the cooked spinach and cooking water was 101.1% after 1min, 68.0% after 2min and 51.3% after 3min. The relative folate content leached out of the cooked spinach into the cooking water varied from 20.2% after 1min boiling to 88.8% after 20min boiling. Total folate content of spinach was decreased to 45% by microwave heating for 40sec. However, the spinach cooked by microwave heating retained more folate due to the minimal loss of folate into cooking water. More than 90% of folate content of spinach was retained during 1 to 2 weeks of storage at 4$^{\circ}C$.