[wikidsnyper]

i am just curious as to how different people wash their produce. different people have different methods, and i am curious..

i wash mine in a big bowl with a little vinegar and a lot of water..i leave them soaking for about 5 mins, then i rinse thoroughly..except for carrots an potatoes..i scrub them under running water with a good sturdy brush till i get all the dirt (and some skin) off..it eliminates my need for peeling veggies (most of the skin stays on, not a big fan of the peeler)..i wash the spinach last, since it's the one with the most dirt, and i leave it soaking longer..

how bout you?

[astrophe]

Depends on the item. (bulky potato vs fluffy lettuce vs delciate blueberries.)

Some get a scrub with a brush. Some get salad spinner.

Some get a soak in BioKleen Produce Wash. I use less than called for since a little goes a long way.

http://biokleenhome.com/products/household/kitchen

Some may even get a combo.

I have trouble with mushrooms because I haven't found a mushroom brush I like.

HTH!
A.

[Ursula745]

Soap residue does not rinse away completely. I use water and a brush. I buy organic produce.

[wikidsnyper]

[QUOTE=astrophe;3420953}

I have trouble with mushrooms because I haven't found a mushroom brush I like.
[/QUOTE]

a lot of cooks recommend just wiping them down with a damp paper towel. i disagree..they can get cleaner than that, especially if it is eaten uncooked..

[pinkflower]

I rinse once, then I use White Vinegar (half and half with water) and spray it on, let is sit a minute,, then rinse it off again. Somethings I let soak (spinach).... It's the same spray bottle I use on my granite countertops and makes it them squeaky clean like nothing else I can buy!

[3FCer344892]

I'm pretty bad with this. I mostly just run it under my filtered tap water and scrub it with my hands (which probably does nothing). I do not buy organic (can't afford it).

I do wonder if that Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap would work, though. You can practically use that stuff for anything.

[ChubbyBun]

Maybe I'm weird, but I just rinse everything with water. I don't really understand why you'd have to do more... Unless you're buying produce from a questionable source, in which case I don't understand why you'd buy it at all.

soaking makes things soggy and lose flavor
soap leaves residue and foods are porous
the skin is usually where most of the nutrients are
and if you're cooking it, it's sanitized anyway

[Renwomin]

I read something recently about washing vegetables and I was pleased to discover that in studies plain tap water works just as well as fancier cleaning sprays.

http://www.ct.gov/caes/cwp/view.asp?a=2815&q=376676

Some quotes from the article:

There is little or no difference between tap water rinsing or using a fruit and vegetable wash in reducing residues of the nine pesticides studied.

But "rubbing" the produce is important:

* At a minimum rinse all fresh produce under tap water for at least thirty seconds.
* The mechanical action of rubbing the produce under tap water is likely responsible for removing pesticide residues. Mild detergents or fruit and vegetable washes do not enhance the removal of pesticide residues from produce above that of rinsing with tap water alone.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by ChubbyBun

Maybe I'm weird, but I just rinse everything with water. I don't really understand why you'd have to do more... Unless you're buying produce from a questionable source, in which case I don't understand why you'd buy it at all.

soaking makes things soggy and lose flavor
soap leaves residue and foods are porous
the skin is usually where most of the nutrients are
and if you're cooking it, it's sanitized anyway

Less than a month after the "vegetable washes" first came out on the market, there were articles in popular magazines about their uselessness. Plain water was shown to be the safest, cheapest and most effective. Soaking was not significantly better than rinsing, and in some cases wasn't as effective (the movement of the running water removed as much or more soil and contaminants than did soaking).

I rinse, and scrub only when there's visible dirt. Heck when we were kids and picked our own from the garden, we just wiped 'em in our t-shirts.

[ChubbyBun]

Originally Posted by kaplods

I rinse, and scrub only when there's visible dirt. Heck when we were kids and picked our own from the garden, we just wiped 'em in our t-shirts.

I'm with ya. I eat blackberries in my front yard off the vine and I haven't died yet haha. I rinse stuff with good old fashioned water and maybe scrub something like potatoes if they need it. Produce sanitizers sound like gimmicks to me, and imo being exposed to a certain amount of bacteria is probably safer than chemically sanitizing your food. Who knows what they put in them or what kind of bio-accumulation is going on there. It's bad enough that most of us aren't aware of the conditions in which our food is grown and processed anyway. I figure people have been preparing food for thousands of years without produce sanitizers and unless you don't have access to clean water, you're probably ok.

[kaplods]

I'm even less concerned now, because I buy as much produce as I can from the farmers' markets (especially the Hmong vendors) and the Hmong-owned asian groceries in town. Some of the produce is imported from Mexico, Chile, or Thailand, and I wash the imports more thoroughly. However, most of the produce is grown by the grocery store owners and other local Hmong families - most of which grow either organically (but without certification), or pretty-darned close. Fresh, cheap, and local.

I've never seen or tasted such awesome produce as from the Hmong farmers and grocers. They seem to be extremely persnickity about freshness, cleanliness and quality, and they grow food for flavor and color, not for uniformity or durability for shipping (like commercial growers do). They grow what they like, and handle it carefully so you'll find beautiful purple, knobby carrots rather than arrow straight orange ones. So many colors! I didn't know that vegetables that I thought I knew (like carrots, peppers and green beans) came in so many colors!

Now I can't wait until Saturday's market!

[oodlesofnoodles]

Yeah I just rinse them under water. I make sure everything get's squirted really well with the water. If it's potatoes and stuff I scrub em with my hands. At first I was scared, thinking I've been doing it wrong all this time lol.

And Kaplods, that sounds amazing. I'm still searching for a good farmer's market. The best one I can find is at the most inconvenient time: sunday morning, the one morning I want to sleep in!

[mandalinn82]

Kaplods - OT, but have you ever gotten a carrot with a very large, spiny vascular system fully developed? It was very strange the first time I encountered it, all spiny and in my carrot.

Oodles - we talked before, right? Same market as me? It's sooo worth it. I got 24 lbs of organic peaches for $10 last week (OK, perhaps most people are not crazy enough to buy 24 lbs of peaches, but I have a freezer full of frozen and a ton of jam prepped now). Squash is now under $1 a lb, and all the stone fruits are $1 a lb, pretty universally. And the watermelons are 3 or 4 dollars for a HUGE, delicious fruit!

So this is not a total threadjack, I just rinse. But I also shop pretty much exclusively at the farmer's market above, know the vendors, etc. So I'm less worried.

[kaplods]

Originally Posted by mandalinn82

Kaplods - OT, but have you ever gotten a carrot with a very large, spiny vascular system fully developed? It was very strange the first time I encountered it, all spiny and in my carrot.

LOL, Yes! The first time, was in my grandparents' or parent's garden - and the adults couldn't convince me it was really a carrot. I thought it was some suspicious (and possibly poisonous) imposter.