Washing Produce
How do you wash your produce? In the picture above, mine is sitting in a tub of vinegar and salt water for about fifteen minutes before I thoroughly rinse it with filtered water. It then air dries and I will rinse it with water again immediately prior to use.
I have to admit though, I have no idea what is the best way to clean produce. There does not seem to be much evidence supporting the commercial vegetable washes and it is hard for me to believe that there is nothing better than just water.
NPR once ran a story asserting that a water rinse is best. But another story later implies that vinegar really is useful. I figure that, if nothing else, having the scent of vinegar on my produce makes sure that I really clean it thoroughly!
I am not sure about the salt though. I once heard that it helps kill things1 and draw out bugs which may not be effected by the vinegar. But… eh, who knows? I doubt that it does any harm since it is yet another reason to make sure that my water rinse is thorough.
Of more concern is whether vinegar is enough. Is it worth dumping in a bit of hydrogen peroxide as I sometimes do? I just do not know.
Does anyone have advice, thoughts, links to solid research, or crazy stories you’ve heard from your best friend’s grandpa?
1. Who knows what “things” are? Who wants to know?!
Thanks for dropping by my humble little blog!
I have to admit… I don’t wash my fruit as thoroughly as you do. A quick rinse, pat dry – and away I go. Hopefully that doesn’t come back to bite me in the butt later in life!
Presumably you’ll be fine since that’s the advice NPR was giving out.
Dang- All I do is rinse it off . . .
I’m with Taryn, I just rinse and bite!
Me too, rinse with water and that’s it. So far, so good!
I’m so terrible at washing. I think it’s because I grew up around farms, eating peas, apples, and other yummy things right out of the field. Delish!
Yum. I used to eat both peas and apples straight from the garden and I still would. But somehow that seems much cleaner to me then the produce that has been handled by who-knows-whom in the grocery store. And I’ll admit that I may be paranoid. Stuff like sewage sludge fears really grosses me out.
Okay, looks like I’m alone in this. So, assuming I am just paranoid the question is: should I try to get over my paranoia or just go with it since it isn’t really that much work and might do a little good some day?
I barely even wash my fruit at all most of the time, though seeing what you do with yours makes me feel a bit guilty about my carelessness.
We use only water to wash our produce (we grow most of our own on our farm) and haven’t had a problem. Now at the same time, when the kids are out picking, they are snacking as well. So who knows?