How Do You Wash Your Veggies?

As soon as I get home from the store or Farmer's Market, I throw all fruits and vegetables into a salt bath.

I fill up the sink with cold water and grind sea salt into the water.  I say grind because you're supposed to use sea salt powder, but I can't find that anywhere.  You can't use the whole sea salt because it will take forever for the salt to dissolve.  So, I say ground sea salt is the next best thing.

Then I throw everything into the bath and let it soak for about an hour.

You will see a film appear on the surface of the water - this is the germs, pesticides, waxes and general dirt lifting off your precious cargo.  You may need to take a vegetable brush to certain items such as potatoes.

Next, wash each item off in cold water and either dry with a paper towel or allow to air dry before tucking them into their new temporary living arrangements.  In the summer, I like to throw my produce into a dish strainer to dry.

When I'm short on time or only have a few things, I will spray each item down with 100% white vinegar, let sit for a few minutes and then rinse with cold water.  I keep a spray bottle filled with vinegar for such tasks.

Be sure to remove those pesky stickers before soaking - once wet, they can be a pain to remove.  I just learned that those stickers are edible - I don't care, I still don't want to eat them.

Now your fruits and veggies are readily available at a moments notice!  One less dreaded chore to slow down your meal preparations - trust me you're going to love it!

Be Clean My Friends,
The Hoff

P.S. You may have noticed that I had my watermelon and cantaloupe in the bath.  You may not eat the rinds of these types of items, but once you cut into the rind, you drag whatever was lurking on the outside all the way through your produce via the knife...that guy who didn't wash his hands after using the facilities and fondled each melon in search of the perfect one, those spiders that crawl into the crates during transit, the mice...need I go on?  And to that I say eww.