Wash Your Vegetables

5 Steps to Properly Cleaning Vegetables and Why You Should

Where did my food come from? Who all has handled it? What do I do with my vegetables when I get them home? Should I invest in vegetable cleaners being sold? In today’s world of pesticides, bacteria, and unsafe handling in foods, all of these questions are understandable concerns. However, they can easily be addressed with an at-home, safe, and affordable method of properly cleaning vegetables.

Why Should We Wash Our Vegetables?
Vegetables have come from many parts of the world. There is no way that we can tell in the grocery store as to what bacteria, dirt, or germs the vegetable has picked up. We also need to consider the chemical residue left from growing. Even organic vegetables can come in contact with harmful residue. This could help us avoid such diseases as E.coli and Salmonella as well.

Should We Invest in Vegetable Cleaners?
With all of the concerns of dirty vegetables, many companies have started to offer vegetable cleaners. This is to provide a safe way of washing our produce to make it safe for us to eat. However, these cleaners can quickly bump up our grocery bill. If the correct steps are taken to wash vegetables at home, we can avoid this expense. The process is very easy, safe, and affordable.

Steps to Properly Cleaning Vegetables
1. Wash your hands thoroughly so that you are not adding further contamination to your vegetables.

2. Bring out a large bowl or dishpan that can easily hold all of your vegetables and water. Fill up the pan or bowl with cool water deep enough that it will cover your vegetables.

3. Choose whether you would like to use baking soda or apple cider vinegar as your homemade cleanser. If you choose baking soda, add 3 tablespoons to the water. If you choose to use the vinegar, add 3 tablespoons per gallon of water. Let your vegetables soak for about 10 minutes in the solution.

4. Use a brush to scrub the dirt from your vegetables. This will really allow you to remove the dirt that may have embedded itself in crevices. A vegetable brush will work well for this.

5. Rinse your vegetables one last time to wash away any residual dirt and the cleanser. Dry them and be sure to wash the bowl or pan you used for the vegetables so that it will be clean for your next batch of produce.

Overall, properly cleaning vegetables is a very easy and inexpensive process that will really pay off in the long-run. Safety is important to all of us when it comes to ourselves and our families, and this is one step that we can take to ensure that safety.

Image by photobunny, and licensed through Creative Commons.

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