Oct 22nd, 2007
How Clean Is Your Produce?
Do you have kids like mine - the kind that will eat you out of house and home as long as you have a ton of veggies available? Seriously - my kids love veggies. Especially my little one. Keira declared last night that spinach leaves are her favorite veggie, with cauliflower and broccoli coming in close second. I also love veggies, so we always have lots of produce on hand.
One thing I’ve always wondered, though, is how well am I actually cleaning it? I usually do a rinse and scrub in regular old fresh cold water, then I pat it dry on clean paper towels and shove it in the fridge. Of course I’ve read articles that say don’t do that because the moisture you leave on the food can cause bacteria to grow while it’s in the fridge. They say to only clean what you will eat immediately. What? Who’s got time for that? When I’m making lunch in the morning to take to work and school, I don’t have time to remove and clean the exact number of lettuce leaves or broccoli florets that I need. Pretty much, if it’s not already cleaned and ready, it’s not getting eaten. Cleaning the fruit and veggies is part of the grocery-getting experience for me.
So how can I clean that stuff in advance without creating a science experiment in my fridge? According to Cook’s Illustrated, all I have to do is use a vinegar/water mixture. Read here for more information.
Now, who do I believe - the food fanatics that write a cooking magazine, or the FDA, who I’m not so confident in, given things they’ve allowed on the market for the sake of $$$?
I think I’ll stick to my regular old plain cool water rinse and scrub. It’s worked so far. Any of you out there have any suggestions or tried and true tips for keeping your produce clean and edible?
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If you find out the “truth” please share with the rest of us! I typically wash veggies in coolish/warmish water dry them off and put them in ziplock bags (I place a sheet or two of paper towel inside the bag to catch any leftover water, I think I saw this on the Food Network).
If I am making leafy greens (cabbage, kale, etc.) I wash them in water and a little bit of apple-cider vinegar, then rinse really well and cook. Sometimes I clean, then blanch, and then freeze veggies. It saves on prep time when I want to cook them!
Hope this helps.
Blessings!
I have always just done the cold water rinse and scrub. I do wait until I am going to use it to do it though, so I don’t end up with mold. I think that plain old water works just fine, we’ve never gotten sick from our food.
Well, I am with you…I clean the veggies when I get them home from the store…it is included in the time needed to grocery shop. I just use water to rinse and scrub them off…I dry it a bit and then put it in the fridge…so I pretty much do what you do. Way to go on raising veggie eaters!