MYO Fruit & Vegetable Wash

Washing your fresh produce when you pick it from the garden, or purchase it at farmers markets or your local grocery may seem like common sense to you; Very few people like the feeling of gritty celery or greens, after all.
While it's wonderful to wash fruits and veggies to bring out the best flavor of the fresh produce, it's more important to help your family avoid various food-borne illnesses. Unfortunately, those cutesy little bottles of fruit and veggie "wash" aren't very budget friendly, but they don't need to be, you can make your own for under .25 cents!
Recently while grocery shopping, I witnessed a woman picking over vegetables, stop, cover her mouth and nose with her hand, sneeze twice, and then pick up another green pepper without so much as attempting to wipe her hand off.
I already vigorously wash fruits and vegetables when I purchase them, but seeing her sneeze and then handle the vegetables made me wonder how many people still don't?
Fresh vegetables can easily become tainted with residual pesticides and pathogens on the surface. Avoiding potential illness is relatively simple, wash your fruits and veggies before consuming or cutting them. It is equally important to wash all fruits and vegetables regardless of whether the skin/rind is edible.
While you may not feel it's important to wash a Melon, for example, cutting it can easily transfer bacteria from the inedible rind into the edible fruit inside. The same is true for grapefruits, oranges, avocados, etc.

Here are several simple, inexpensive homemade fruit and vegetable washes you can make in your own kitchen.

In a clean spray bottle combine the following:

1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
2 TBS baking soda
2 TBS lemon juice

Mix well. Spray fresh fruits and vegetables generously, allow the mixture to remain on them for about 5 minutes, rinse off with cold, clean water. Store unused spray in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Simple Fruit & Veggie Soak:

1/2 cup vinegar
3 TBS salt
1 Very Large bowl, half full of cold water

Combine the vinegar and salt, mixing well until the salt dissolves. Add to a large bowl of water. Soak fruit and veggies (uncut) in the mix for 10 minutes, remove and pat dry.


Additional Tips:

1. When washing, pay particular attention to the stem areas of fruits where it is easier for dirt and pesticides to accumulate.
2. Root Vegetables should be soaked for several minutes
3. Leafy Greens require approximately 2 minutes of Soaking for best results- you'll notice that this makes your greens more crisp and fresh tasting as well!