Getting your five to nine servings of fruits and veggies (F&Vs) a day is essential to your health, but unfortunately, our produce has been contaminated pesticides and other contaminates that are harmful to our health. But please don’t let this discourage you from eating your F&Vs because it is really pretty easy to decrease and minimize your risk from these.
In my house, we eat a lot of F&Vs, so it’s important to make sure they are safe and ready for us to eat.
There are a few different produce washing methods out there, but the method I use is to soak my fresh produce in a water and vinegar bath for ~2-5 minutes and then let them air dry on the counter. This process removes most of the pesticides and bacteria on our fruits and veggies. I also think this helps the produce last longer. Now, not exactly sure why, but I have noticed when I haven’t washed my F&Vs they always go bad faster. This can go in the Weird but true catagory.
First, pile all your produce on the counter. Ha,Ha, just kidding, feel free to keep your fruits and veggies anywhere you want until you are ready to wash it. 😉
First things first, clean your sink to make sure it doesn’t harbor any yucky stuff that often lurks in a kitchen (salmonella anyone?). Then fill your sink about 1/3 of the way and add vinegar. For purposes of the post, I measured out the amount of water/vinegar I usually use so I can give you exact numbers. I used a 8 to 1 ratio of water to vinegar (8 cups of water to 1 cup of vinegar).
Then place the fruits and vegetables in batches and allow to soak for 2-5 minutes.
Next, I remove the produce to a large, clean towel to allow it to dry. Some websites say to rinse the produce after you soak it, to remove the vinegar residue. I don’t do this because I never notice a residual taste, vinegar is safe to consume, and I like to save water when I can 🙂
My kitchen helper is helping me take care of the cilantro.
I rinse the cilantro in the vinegar/water bath too and then shake out the extra water. Then just like with flowers I snip off the ends and put them in a container with water. This keeps the cilantro fresh longer than putting it into the fridge (works well for parsley too).
It also Looks pretty sitting on the counter. 🙂
Allow your goodies to air dry on the counter and then when dry put them away in the fridge, except the cilantro, of course.
Now Enjoy your extra free time for the rest of the week 😉
Pre-washing your fruits and veggies also makes it easier to grab them on the run. If you are always running late, like me, anything that saves me time in the heat of the moment is welcome!
