By any measure, I am not the queen of produce cleanliness. I've joked that pesticides add that extra "zing!" to tomatoes. I've reasoned that since I'm roasting broccoli at 450F, any germs that survive deserve to kill me. And I've proclaimed "Mmmm....protein!" as small bugs fall into my simmering pot of camping food.
But honestly, I was grossed out a few days ago when I opened a box of organic baby spinach to find a large, dead fly. And I do make cursory attempts to rinse most vegetables. As I do so, I often wonder whether swirling a colander full of veggies under some cold water actually does anything or just makes me feel better.
So I was interested to see The New York Times tackle my produce cleanliness questions in this week's "Really?" column. I was relieved to learn that I don't have to break out the dish soap or a fancy produce spray to avoid a side helping of chemicals and micro-nasties.
Instead, I learned, friction is the key to removing pesticide from produce. While my current method of casually swirling veggies in the colander probably isn't doing much, 30-60 seconds of tap water combined with some rubbing will remove most pesticides (9 out of 12 in the cited study) and works as well as soaps or sprays.
For microorganisms, a rinse with a 10 percent vinegar solution (one of my favorite all-purpose household products!) removes 90 percent of bacteria and 95 percent of viruses.
Friction, tap water, and vinegar may not be completely foolproof, but they're simple solutions most of us can easily implement without investing in specialized products. And hey, the pesticides and germs that survive at least have to show some evolutionary fitness in order to kill us!
To read the entire article, visit the NYT Health Section: The Claim: A Soap-and-Water Rinse Gets Produce Cleanest.
No comments:
Post a Comment