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Weird, Yet, What Are The Healthiest Ways To Wash Produce?
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Most claim that washing your vegetables and fruits in a vinegar solution will remove bacteria and dirt. But is that true? And what is the best way to wash fresh produce anyway?
What about other produce washes?
In addition to water, baking soda, salt, and vinegar are other common household items that are used to soak produce with water.
Fit Organic Fruit & Vegetable Wash is the most common produce wash available in almost every grocery store, and runs around $6. They even admit that no studies have shown that their product really removes more chemicals. It also contains some questionable ingredients, such as ethylene glycol, citric acid, and oleic acid. That’s a lot of buck for no bang.
Many other product washes are available containing a host of chemicals themselves.
What Gets Produce the Cleanest
Though there are many concoctions developed to clean produce, studies show that nearly all, 98% of bacteria, are removed with simply washing with water. However, you should soak and rinse or scrub and rinse your produce well. How you store your produce also determines how long it will stay fresh.
How to Choose the Best Produce Wash
- Price is an important consideration when choosing how to clean your produce. With vinegar, baking soda, or salt, you can buy a whole bottle, and it can last you nearly a year for under $5. Other produce washes will cost you about $5 a month, and leave you running back to the store often. Water itself is obviously the cheapest and always available.
- And so is availability. Water, followed by the household staples of vinegar, baking soda and salt are the clear winners here.
- Go organic. Organic produce cannot contain harsh chemicals, although more natural pesticides and herbicides are allowed. You should still wash your organic produce, although you can worry less about ingesting some of its chemicals. So, choose organic produce to ensure that even after washing, your produce contains less toxins.
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How to Wash Your Produce Easily
Your best bet is to use clean water, washing over fruits and vegetables with your hands or a produce brush. Produce brushes can be found at the usual kitchen stores, and natural versions are also available. You can soak the fresh fruit or vegetables in a sink full of cold water, but that’s not necessary for all produce. Soaking does help remove dirt from produce with crevices, such as broccoli. Then be sure to rinse the produce. Finally, place the produce to dry on a clean towel.
If you choose to use salt, baking soda, or vinegar, search for a safe mixture, usually around 1 part cleaner with 3 parts water, to soak your produce.
Storing Produce is Just as Vital
Storing produce is also important for keeping it fresh and clean. Stalks like asparagus and herbs need fresh water, so treat them like flowers and place them with water in a jar, covered gently with a plastic bag. Be sure to dry off lettuce, store avocados in a paper bag at room temperature and trim any greens off of root vegetables.
Though you may find many different opinions and options to clean your produce, simply using clean water has been shown to be the most effective, and the easiest on the wallet my friends.
