Here is a simple step-by-step guide to washing fruit and vegetables before eating or cooking them.
Steps
Step 1. Take all the fruit / vegetables you need to wash and place them on the kitchen counter near the sink
Step 2. If you want, put a colander in the sink
Step 3. Turn on the cold water
Do not use hot or ice water.
Step 4. Put the vegetables under running water
If you have a brush to clean them, you could use it for some products such as potatoes that have grown underground. Just make sure you don't rub too hard to not damage the peel.
Step 5. Make sure there is no dirt or other residue on all the fruit and vegetables
Step 6. Cut away the spoiled portions
Step 7. Use soap if you want
It is usually recommended not to use any detergents; however, there are products on sale, safe for food use, which remove oily residues from the surface of vegetables, which would otherwise not be soluble in water (such as pesticides, preservative waxes and the sebum present on the hands of people who have touched formerly the vegetables).
Advice
- Another effective method is to fill a bowl with clean water and immerse the fruit in it by moving the water with your hands. This technique is very useful for grapes and other foods that have a complex surface to clean.
- Instead of detergents you can try to soak the vegetables in warm water with one or two teaspoons of salt for 5 minutes and then always rinse with warm water.
- The small stickers that are placed on the fruit are often made of edible paper; however it is best to remove them before washing, otherwise the part under the sticker will not clean.
- Warm water is fine, but it's best to use it if you plan on cooking fruit and vegetables right away.
