I grew up as the child of a gardener, a cook, a canner.  To this day, my 84-year-old mother has a garden bigger than most people’s front yards, cans tomatoes, her own salsa, jams and jellies, and still cooks Sunday dinners for the family.

For Christmas one year, my mom gave me a Squeez-O strainer.  Many of you I image are saying “A what?”  Few know the magic of the Sqeezo-O.  But I do, and was thrilled with the gift.

The Squeez-O strainer is a must-have for the serious foodie, for those who can their own tomatoes or make their own apple sauce.  I used mine this past fall to make homemade applesauce.  The beauty of the Squeez-O is that you don’t have to peel or core the apples. You cut them in half, put them in a big pan with a few inches of water, and let them cook until the apples are soft.  Then you pour them into the Squeez-O.  By simply turning the crank, this magic machine separates the cores, seeds and peels from the sauce.  Truly, it is magic.

But as I watch my Squeez-O create a pile of skins, core, seeds and some pulp, I also realize that sauce – even my homemade apple sauce – can’t have the same nutritional value of whole fruit.  Even if I use the freshest, organically grown apples, the process of making sauce is taking some of the positive nutrition out of the food.

Knowing this, I’m often surprised when people think that apple juice, apple sauce, and whole apples are nutritionally equivalent.  I would say across the board, looking at it from a nutrient-density standpoint (how much nutrition am I getting for the calories), the whole fruit is always the best option.  Does this mean you should never eat sauces, canned fruit, or fruit juices?  No, but it does mean that the whole fruit should be your default fruit.

After all, there is nothing better than stepping into my mother’s garden on a hot summer day and biting into a fresh, ripe tomato.

Visit www.nuval.com to compare your favorite whole fruit to sauce to juice.