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Best Washing Methods for Greens?

newbienewbie Raw Newbie

I’ve come across several different opinions on what the best method is for washing greens, from using food-grade hydrogen peroxide, to soaking in vinegar and baking soda, to soaking them in ethyl alcohol and water. As far as I know, vinegar and baking soda is good for removing bacteria, but not parasites; although, ethyl alcohol is good for eliminating parasites.

I’m also interested in being more conservative with my water usage. My current washing method uses a lot of water – rubbing each leaf under running water.

Anyhow, I’m sure that there are others out there who have better methods. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks! :-)

Comments

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    are you washing cuz of bacteria, or cuz of conventional produce?

    if the former, i wanted to say that i have NEVER washed my produce. i am living proof that you will not die or get sick. in fact, i’m not convinced it’s such a great idea to be so hygienic.

    my main concern with bringing veggies, esp. greens, home from the market is actually with removing the WATER (why do they BATHE our produce??? it just goes bad faster!). i use either a salad spinner, or i carefully pat leaves with a kitchen towel. then i place them in PERFORATED zip lock bags in the fridge (take a whole punch to your bags). they stay crisp a lot longer this way.

    if the latter, someone put up a great veggie wash recipe the other day using grapefruit peel… you can look that up under recipes.

    hope that helps.

  • newbienewbie Raw Newbie

    Really? I never heard of anyone not washing b/c of potential contaminants. I wash to get rid of anything harmful – bacteria and parasites mostly. I recently started getting my weekly bag of produce from a CSA that I joined and you can see what looks like little insect eggs and such in the folds and crannies of the leaves. I just got a little paranoid with the thought of little wormies hatching inside of me or my son.. ;-)

  • Samson ultra sonic washer, thats what i use, fruit and veg stay fresh longer, gets rid of chemical residues, is that ok?

  • Raw_ChocoholicRaw_Chocoholic Raw Newbie

    Omega Nutrition sells a product that can be used for washing veggies as well as for body soap. They use orange oil, and it smells nice too! When I do wash my veggies I use this. http://www.omeganutrition.com/

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    hmm… am i like a neanderthal? =) really, everyone washes their veggies? that’s just how i grew up. we never washed our food.

    i just realized that this is probably a cultural difference. i grew up in france and don’t remember any of my friends’ parents ever rinsing anything off before feeding it to them… i actually remember now when i moved back to the US thinking it was really funny that americans washed their produce.

    what are potential contaminants? also, if our tap water is polluted, why would that help?

  • waterbaby12347waterbaby12347 Raw Newbie

    Here is that recipe to rid your produce of chemicals & pesticides

    1 cup water 1 cup white vinegar 1 TB Baking Soda 20 drops grapefruit seed extract Mix and pour into spray bottle… Spray onto produce let sit 10 minutes then rinse..

    Pianissima, no you aren’t a neanderthal, You silly girl!!! I rarely wash my produce as I feel the water is probably more contaminated than the produce… Having said that, if it appears dirty and isn’t organic then I would use this recipe for peace of mind…

    By the way, did you ever get an artichoke??? I broke down and bought one, it is purple and don’t know how to use it… Please advise before it goes to waste… LOL I guess I could mandoline each leaf into a salad but thought you might know something more interesting… Thanks!!!

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    I suppose I wash it because of people who might have touched it in the store. maybe i am just a germophobe. i hate when those little buggies get on the broccoli and cauliflower. I guess it’s because I’m vegan and I don’t want to eat bugs. BTW, in “12 steps to raw” she has an interesting chapter on eating insects.

  • kevin7197kevin7197 Raw Newbie

    I use the food grade peroxide. I simply spritz, let is set for a few minutes then rinse off. I also use the peroxide to keep my work area clean.

  • sweetpeasweetpea Raw Newbie

    I don’t wash them unless they’re dirty and try to buy organic when I can. I might wipe them with a tissue so that they are dry enough to absorb my dressings. I use apple cider vinegar in my dressings which I believe kills bacteria and usually also garlic and cayenne.

    Also, my partner eats any bugs or other attaching insects and says it’s a good way of getting B12 (David Wolfe eats ants and aphids).

    http://www.rawlifestyle.co.uk Diary, ebooks, recipes

  • rawmamarawmama Raw Newbie

    pianissima – I can’t find the recipe/forum with the grapefruit peel tip for cleaning veggies. Do you happen to have the link?

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    Someone on a different thread mentioned a sonic washer which is fascinating me! I had never heard of them. He said it gets rid of chemicals and bacteria, I’m guessing through sonic vibrations…he said you can use it to clean the spark plugs in your car too ;)

  • hmm, do supermarkets still carry that vegetable spray cleaner? I can’t remember what it’s called, but it had the effect of windexing one’s food to get the wax and dirt off. Or maybe you could use a vegetable brush and scrub them that way…

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    http://goneraw.com/recipes/3916-Organic-Maker-o… this is waterbaby’s recipe. =)

    waterbaby—that’s encouraging! no, i still haven’t bought an artichoke. but try this: clip the leaves a couple of inches, so it looks like it got a buzz cut. then you take the artichoke horizontally (laying down, leaves pointing up, bottom pointing down). and you slice it so that you get a thin cross-section of the whole artichoke. then you marinate in lemon juice, olive oil, a little sea salt and pepper. i think that should work. oh, you’re making me want to go out and buy one… i just forget cuz it’s not something i usually buy. i get to the supermarket and it’s like i’m on autopilot…

  • newbienewbie Raw Newbie

    wow, I’m really surprised. we’ve all been eating this way for a while now and we each have different ways of washing. I’m so glad I asked. ;-) for me, I wash because I worry most about parasites. I’ve seen too many of those pictures online of flukes and what not and they scare me (ha!).

  • TomsMomTomsMom Raw Newbie

    I started to wash my greens and fruits recently because I read a list of the solutions and chemicals ALLOWED to be used for organic produce and farms. I’d prefer not to eat copper sulfate, lol.

    But I really hate having to wash them, because of the enormous water waste and because I’m fricking lazy:-O

  • SueSue Raw Newbie

    I’m lazy so I buy pre-washed when I can. When I can’t I just run them under contaminated tap water and spin the crap out of them in a salad spinner (dryer.)

  • CarmentinaCarmentina Raw Newbie

    I only rinse my produce. Pregnant women here in Italy add baking soda to the soak water. I just soak the produce, then spin it. I get a lot of produce that’s still dirty/gritty, so it really needs rinsing. I believe anything more is excessive – we were meant to eat all it, right? Not the chemicals, of course, I talking organic here.

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