Washing fruit

[LaLaLamp]

I'm a bit lazy and just rinse fruit under the tap for a few seconds, but not always. Is this what you are supposed to do or should there be a more rigorous method?

I don’t wash it at all!

Are you supposed to? 😂

Are you supposed to wash fruit? 🙄

I started a thread on this a while ago, specially washing grapes

with grapes I take them off the stalks and rinse them under the two while rubbing all the hunk off

Apples I usually just polish with a cloth or something but now I’m pregnant I rinse them. I’m a bit anxious while pregnant!

I've never bothered, and that's probably not great, but it hasn't killed me yet.

Washing up liquid and rinse well.

I wash fruit because it’s sprayed with pesticides and anti fungals. I’m never sure that I do it thoroughly enough though.
I’m really lazy so I’m surprised that some people are saying they don’t do any washing, I usually do the minimum to get by!
I worked picking apples in NZ once, and I remember the big back packs of chemicals the farmers used to spray on the trees, they wore masks and gloves and we couldn’t be in treated fields for several hours afterwards.

Usually just rinse.

If I buy from the market, I wash in water and vinegar.

But if those pesticides are designed to work even though the fruit fields are being watered and rained on, is a quick rinse under the cold tap going to remove it?
I would think that you would need hot water, some sort of soap or detergent and rubbing/friction to effectively clean fruit.
I don't tend to wash fruit and veg unless it looks visibly dirty.

Just a quick rinse under the tap. As a pp said, I think it's recommended due to the pesticides and just dirt and bacteria that's on them. Not sure if a rinse under the tap is enough but it makes me feel better. 😂 I was definitely more thorough when I was pregnant and when my kids were younger.

Yes to washing fruit and vegetables! Ideally non organic should be peeled (apples etc) to remove most pesticides. No to washing up liquid as this also penetrates the skin of the fruit and is not ideal for human consumption.

I give it all a thorough wash under cold running water but certainly wouldn't add bleach or any other additives to the water.

I wash my fruit and veg, just in cold water though.

Always wash fruit and veg, worked in ASDA as a teenager. They fall on the floor, get picked back up, multiple customers touching fruit and veg and putting it back down again (and how many times have we heard of people not washing hands after going to the toilet 🤮)

I'm in my 60's and have never washed fruit - it would seem no illness has resulted to affect me / family as yet. Grew up in rural surroundings, don't remember mum or nan washing fruit (although a lot came from garden or allotment, so nearer to organic). Maybe against popular opinion, but I do think children today have less opportunity to develop natural immunity, due to our more "sanitised" lifestyle or maybe it's just me with a cast iron constitution!

I wash mine in the dishwasher!

I wash it because of pesticides, mouse pee, human pee, dust and dirt, germy hands, bug eggs and fly poo, mould and mildew spores and a good scrub with apples etc. as they are sprayed with wax which sometimes you can taste. I also buy unwaxed lemons unless they are for cleaning purposes as I don't fancy grating preservative and pesticides into my cooking.

@AliceRR 'while rubbing all the hunk off' made me proper lol!

Yes, I wash all fruit and veg under the cold tap and often wonder if it's enough.

On hot days I wash Cantaloupes. After 30 minutes in the shower they turn into Water Melon.

I wash mine in the dishwasher! Does that not cook them.

When I come home I load all the fruit and veg into a sink full of cold water and a drop or two of dish soap. I roll them around for a few minutes and rinse them well.

Give them a rince and scrub with tea towel. More to remove dust and dirt than pesticides. Food can be dropped on floor or picked up with dirty hands.

I didn't used to (and was fine) but I started when pregnant and haven't stopped. Just a quick rinse though - I think if you are worried enough to really scrub away at fruit and veg you may as well be peeling it

My Mum is obsessed with washing fruit, but she was 15 and has clear memories of the typhoid outbreak in Aberdeen in 1964. Though that was eventually tied down to tinned beef not unwashed fruit.

Obviously I woudlnt want to eat all the pesticides, dirt and dust etc that's on the outside of a fruit, but if you're peeling the fruit (I'm thinking mainly of apples and pears and things here) surely you're removing a lot of the goodness in the skin which contains most of the fibre and vitamins?