How much time do you spend washing produce?

[Deleted]

I got up an hour early today to get some things done and I spent most of that time washing fruits and vegetables. I never really know if I'm washing them too much or not enough. How long do you wash your produce?

[thyme4change]

An hour washing produce? I hope you own a fruit stand or run a farmer's market!

I wash out each thing that I use for about 1 minutes, but usually do it right before I cook / eat it. So, even if I eat 10 fruits and 10 vegetables per week, that 20 minutes is spread out over the whole week - a little at breakfast, a little during snack time, some during dinner prep, etc.

What do you do that you spend so much time washing vegetables??

[cael]

I have this all-natural coconut-based fruit & veg wash, I just spray some on and rinse thoroughly. I do it as needed and I don't spend more than a few minutes on it.

[Deleted]

Often I don't wash it at all. When we get our produce from the farm over the summer it is dirty ,so I have to wash it.

[tractor]

I don't wash them at all. My Grandfather always said you're going to eat lots of dirt in your lifetime, might as well start now.

I realize that they can be covered with all sorts of bad stuff, but nothing has killed me yet.

[thyme4change]

My Mom use to say that before all the chemicals and pesticides everyone died really young, and now everyone lives forever - so she will just go ahead and injest all the chemicals and pesticides.

Of course, she was lying. She is totally OCD and washed everything.

[Deleted]

I didn't spend the entire hour washing but it sure felt like it. I went to the grocery store yesterday and I had a lot of fruits and veggies to wash for the week. Some stuff I just wait until I'm going to use it. I just run them under water for a while. I had a big bag of apples, a big bag of grapefruit, oranges, grapes, bananas (yes I wash those), kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, pears. That was just the fruit. I wash the fruit ahead of time or no one will eat it or they will eat it dirty.

[vl]

Very little. Rather than "run them under water" that is quickly becoming more precious than gold, try filling a pot with some and use it collectively. What do you think is on that produce that can hurt you, that isn't already in it from GMO tampering?

[dividend]

Why bother washing fruits you're going to peel anyway, like citrus, bananas, or kiwis?

[thyme4change]

I normally don't wash bananas, although I've gotten a couple that were visably dirty. I wash citrus when I use the zest - but if I'm going to peel it and eat it, I only wash it when I pick it off the tree. All the rats and bugs and birds that hang out near the tree - I just like to wash them before I put them in with all the other fruit in my fruit basket.

As far as what I think I'm washing off the fruit - I generally don't think I'm washing the chemicals off, as most things like apples have already been sprayed off several times before they make it to my house. I think I'm washing the sneeze-juice from the hands of the produce boy who stocked the display of the fruit. I mean - they all look like nice guys and stuff - but who knows what they adjusted in the back room right before they came out with that cart of food. And, to be fair, I'm also washing off whatever might have been on my hands when I took it off the display. I most likely had some sneeze-juice in there too.

[Deleted]

I wash the grapefruit because my husband cuts them in half, so he would be dragging the germs through the fruit with the knife. Same with the kiwi and the peeler. I never used to wash bananas until I read an article about how dirty they are. I don't think I'm washing the chemicals off either. I'm washing more for the reasons thyme4change stated. You don't know how many dirty hands touched that stuff by the time it makes it into your mouth.

You can call me paranoid if you want, but if you ever eat fruit at my house at least you'll know it is clean.

[Deleted]

I don't spend a lot of time washing but thinking of all the hands that have touched my fruit and vegs. Flu, E coli. yuk. I wash with mild dish soap, usually ivory, or dove and I don't taste it at all.

[Deleted]

Well, I just spent two and half hours washing some tomatoes and some spinach. Do you think that is too much?

[wackyaunt]

I rinse fruits and veggies in a sink of water with a bit of white vinegar in it in the summer when I am processing food for the freezer and/or canning. I have no idea what the person picking may have on their hands and since most of these fruits/veggies come from "organic" garden, I know what "organic" is sooo I wash...
I did just read a recipe for a Produce Wash recently...
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 cup water
Spray bottle to put it in.
The directions were to place produce on papertowel, spritz, then rinse...
(courtesy moneysavingmom.com 1/7/11)
A friend of mine went through chemo and could only eat fresh produce if it had been cleaned throughly with a produce cleaner that was really $$$ so I had to wonder if the acidity of the vinegar and lemon juice were similar enough to the purchased version to clean enough for a chemo patient...that's the reason I jotted the info down.

[Deleted]

Thanks for the recipe (karma for you)!

[The J]

A friend of mine went through chemo and could only eat fresh produce if it had been cleaned throughly with a produce cleaner that was really $$$ so I had to wonder if the acidity of the vinegar and lemon juice were similar enough to the purchased version to clean enough for a chemo patient...that's the reason I jotted the info down.

When my mom went through chemo she asked her doctor about using a homemade spray. His answer was that it might be sufficient, but was it really worth the risk to save $5?

[oreo]

I also wash everything (including bananas and avocados). You touch the peel, then you touch the banana as you're eating it (or my son does as the case may be) so if the peel has stuff on it, you've just transferred the pesticides to your food. Same with avocado although there you cut it with the knife, it goes through the skin and into the fruit, pesticide-ridden fruit. I'm not really that anal about it but I do at least rub my hands over it under the water to get some stuff off. I'm a lot more worried about pesticides than I am about dirt.

Eeeewwww, after reading the posts here, now I'm more worried about "sneeze juice"!

[kadee]

Some recipes to make your own veggie/fruit wash....


Recipes for Homemade Produce Wash
Using an all natural recipe for a fruit and vegetable wash with lemon has been proven to effectively remove excess wax, dirt, toxins, and pesticides significantly better than water alone. The reason is that the acid in lemon juice helps to kill bacteria and dissolve the wax and residues found on the skins of your fruits and veggies. The following recipes are simple to follow and are not harmful to you or the environment.

•1 tbs. lemon juice
•2 tbs. distilled white vinegar
•1 c. water
Combine ingredients in a spray bottle and shake well. Spray on your produce. Let sit 5 minutes and scrub well.

•1 tbs. lemon juice
•2 tbs. baking soda
•1 c. water
Combine ingredients in a deep container. Pour into a spray bottle. Spray on your produce. Let sit 5 minutes and scrub well.

•2 tbs. baking soda
•2 tbs. lemon juice
•1 c. vinegar
•1 c. water
Combine ingredients in a deep container. Pour into a spray bottle. Spray on your produce. Let sit 5 minutes and scrub well.

•4 tbs. salt
•1 medium lemon
Dissolve salt in a large bowl of cold water. Add lemon juice. Soak berries for 10 minutes and other produce for 20 minutes. Rinse well.

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

I just rinse them off, except for carrots and potatoes. Them, I'll usually hit with a scrub pad because I hate grit.

[reasonfreedom]

Feb 2, 2011 8:36:51 GMT -5 @vl said:

Very little. Rather than "run them under water" that is quickly becoming more precious than gold, try filling a pot with some and use it collectively. What do you think is on that produce that can hurt you, that isn't already in it from GMO tampering?

You have a point, but taking 1 shot of pesticides is better than 2 .

I just rinse them thoroughly before using, If you rinse them and then put them away it seems like the water sometimes degrades the shelf life of the produce. Unless of course you are drying them off too, but I guess that depends on if you refrigerate them. I know refrigeration degrades the nutrition level, but it keeps longer.

I recommend going to the web page linked below and getting the green book( World's healthiest foods) . This guys describes nutrition levels, cooking techniques and storing information. The credentials this guys has is beyond amazing. I learned a lot from this book, good stuff

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

<<What do you think is on that produce that can hurt you, that isn't already in it from GMO tampering?>>

Salmonella and/or e coli from places use manure (animal or human) as fertilizer.