What’s the best way to wash fruits and vegetables? And do you have to wash all fruit and veggies you bring into the kitchen, or are there some you can skip? It’s well known that produce can harbor harmful bacteria and viruses, including the germs from the hands of anyone who touched it before it reaches your shopping bag, as Chowhound Hobbert noted in a thread on Washing Fruits and Vegetables.
But does giving your grapes a quick rinse under running water really remove those germs, or do you need to do something more, like soak your produce or use one of those fancy fruit and vegetable cleaners?
Veggie Wash All-Natural Fruit and Vegetable Wash, $32.38 on Amazon
Your veggies need a bath, but is this better than plain old water?
According to Auburn University horticulture professors Dr. Floyd Woods and Dr. Joe Kemble for Best Food Facts, “research has shown that using just plain old water can remove 98 percent of the bacteria when it is used to rinse and soak produce. Simply washing produce will remove any bacteria or other residues on your produce.”
So rinsing, at minimum, is better than doing nothing at all, but the best approach depends on the specific produce you’re dealing with.
Rinse Your Produce: The Bare Minimum
Rinsing your produce under the tap is what you should be doing at the very least for all fresh fruits and veggies, and that includes organic produce, as it can still have naturally-derived pesticides, bacteria, and other germs. Warm water will be somewhat more effective than cold, but be careful when washing delicate things like fresh raspberries, as too much heat will hasten their disintegration (ditto a forceful stream from the tap or sprayer). Many sources recommend that you wash your hands before rinsing produce, which may seem obvious, but also something that’s easy to overlook! The idea is to remove germs and bacteria, not introduce more to the mix.
Use a clean colander to rinse greens, snap peas, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and other smaller items that can are hard to wrangle by hand and can stand some jostling. Agitate them with your fingertips to ensure all the dirt and invisible unpleasantness are getting rinsed away.
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Three sizes for all sorts of kitchen jobs, from straining pasta to rinsing berries.
And dry everything thoroughly before putting it away in the fridge or on the counter in a fruit bowl, or the moisture will encourage rapid mold growth.
Soak Your Produce: Ideal for Delicates
More delicate produce that comes in bunches (like grapes and berries) can be soaked in cool or lukewarm water for anywhere between five and 30 minutes to help the H20 get into all the crevices and loosen any dirt, bugs, and other unseen baddies. If you like, you can add a bit of white vinegar—at a 3:1 water to vinegar ratio, or up to as much as a 50/50 mix if you’re particularly suspicious—since it’s a natural antimicrobial. You’ll want to rinse your produce in clean water after soaking, especially if you do use vinegar, since it can leave a faint smell. Lemon juice also works as a vinegar replacement, or you can make a salt water solution.
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In any case, if you’re soaking your produce right in your sink, you should wash the sink itself first (same principle as washing your hands before manually rinsing fruits and veggies). And as when rinsing, the last step is to dry everything completely before storing it so it doesn’t spoil within a day (we see you, fuzzy strawberries).
Read More: How to Store Fresh Fruit, Vegetables, and Herbs So They Last Longer
Scrub Your Produce: Heavy Duty
Hardy produce with thick skin, like squash, melons, carrots, and other root vegetables, should be scrubbed with a stiff brush under running water to ensure they’re clean. (The brush itself should also be cleaned after each use so it’s not just trapping and spreading bacteria. While we’re at, you also need to clean your kitchen sponge!)
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These biodegradable Japanese palm fiber brushes are tough enough for dirty pots and pans but also good for scrubbing sturdy veggies and fruit.
For produce with a wax coating, if you want to eat the skin, you can use a bit of baking soda as a natural scrub to help remove the waxy layer. You can also briefly dunk these items in boiling water, or pour it over the produce (think apples, lemons, and cucumbers), then give them a scrub to loosen the warmed-up, softened wax and any invisible pesticides and bacteria.
What about produce that has a rind, skin, or peel you’re not going to eat?
Wash ’em! In fact, you should take extra care to wash fruits and veggies when you’re going to peel them or cut through the whole fruit or vegetable (including melons, citrus, and avocados), or else you can drive any surface bacteria into the cut interior of the food with the knife or peeler blade.
If you’re going to be roasting the produce in question, you might think it’s okay to skip it then because the high heat will kill any germs and microorganisms that may be present, which may be true, but there still could be grit; as sunshine842 says, nobody wants to feel like their dental work is being sandblasted. Basically, as in so many instances, “better safe than sorry” definitely applies here.
What about mushrooms?
Conventional wisdom says you should never wash mushrooms, but it’s actually fine to do, and easier to get the dirt off that way than swiping at them with a damp paper towel! Just don’t let them hang out in water for a prolonged period, because they will start to soak it up. But a fully immersive brief bath won’t hurt.
What about those commercial fruit and vegetable washes?
If it makes you feel better and/or motivates you to thoroughly wash your produce, there’s no harm in using these veggie washes, but some studies suggest they may not be as effective as plain old water (or a water-and-vinegar or water-and-salt solution).
What you don’t want to do is use regular soap or dish detergents on your produce, as they can leave residues you wouldn’t want to ingest.
While you’re on a cleaning kick, see How (and How Often) to Clean Your Reusable Water Bottle, 8 Places in the Kitchen You Can Clean with Vinegar, and How to Make Your Baking Sheets Look Brand New.
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