How to Wash Your Vegetables and Fruits
According to the Food and Drug Administration, you should wash raw fruits and vegetables before peeling, cutting, eating or cooking to remove bacteria, mold and pesticides.
Sensing a money making opportunity, companies have begun to offer vegetable and fruit washes and ozone purification systems that claim to be most effective method of removing pesticides and other contaminants. Really? Fortunately for us, researchers at the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Maine, have tested the effectiveness of these products. The researchers, using blueberries, found that soaking the fruit in distilled water for two minutes was more effective than ozone food sterilizers and roughly as effective as vegetable and fruit washes at removing microbes. Ozone food sterilizers start at $350. Vegetables and Fruit washes sell for $4.95 per 16 oz. Distilled water sells for .69 cents a gallon. Which would you buy?
Washing Vegetables and Fruits
• Wash your hands before preparing food
• Allow all vegetables and fruits to soak in distilled water for two minutes. Fruits with thick skin require scrubbing with a soft brush
• If the vegetable or fruit cannot be soaked, place it in a colander and spray it with distilled water
• Clean all cutting boards and utensils after peeling and before additional cutting of the produce. This will prevent bacteria from the outside of the produce to contaminate the inside when it’s cut or peeled
While I haven’t covered organic foods yet, one of their main benefits is that they’re grown or produced without the use of pesticides. While cost may prohibit some people from purchasing organic produce exclusively, the following produce have been shown to contain the highest levels of pesticides and buying them “organic” would be a wise investment. At least, spend extra time and care washing them.
Fruits: Peaches Pineapple Strawberries Tomatoes Raspberries Pears Blueberries Cherries Apples Bananas Grapes Nectarines Lemons Kiwis Limes Cantaloupe
Vegetables: Celery Cucumbers Spinach Green & Red Peppers Carrots Green Beans All Squash
You can also mix up your own fruit wash with cheap ingredients like vinegar, lemon & baking soda. http://jimmirogers.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/anti-pesticide-fruit-wash/
Excellent points! I use the distilled method because it’s cheap, fast and efficient.
Pesticides are designed NOT to wash off with warm rain water. If you wash your vegatables with cold water, nothing happens. Try washing romaine lettuce with cold water. The surface of the leaves will still seem some what greacy to the touch. Now wash again, using your hands and hot water. Be sure the water is not too hot for your hands.
As you begin to wash the leaves you will notice that they start to feel slippery as the pesticides begin to loosen. Soon the leaves will become shinny and squeaky clean. If you did this washing over a large bowl or pan, you will see the pesticides floating on the top of the water. It has a slight milky and bubbly look to it.