How do you wash your fruit & veg?

[twiglett]

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You are, newly crowned

I buy organic so just give them a quick rinse.

If I do buy non organic tend to scrub them a bit, but not always.

Um - probably shouldn't admit this but I give apples a scrub with a bit of washing-up water! (Rinse off afterwards of course.)

I believe the pesticide problem is less severe now than when Pamela thing (B Connolly's wife) had that campaign going - they test produce in Which magazine regularly, and although there are some residues in some fruit and veg it's a lot better than it was.

Think the chemicals permeate the skin anyway so you're just washing superficial dirt. That's my excuse anyway

never do really

My Dh washes fruit (esp grapes) in salt water as it kills the creepiecrawlies!!!

Yum yum lovely thought

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I wash all our fruit in cold water before putting in fruit bowl as would never remember to wash every time i wanted to eat. Don't think it sitd there long enough to gather any dust/dirt.
Wash veg in cold water before using. Only thing I actually scrub is mushrooms as they tend to be very dirty.

Although I don't wash skinned fruit, eg oranges, bananas. Should I ? Does anyone else ?

Like CD, we buy mostly organic and just sluice under the tap (except broccoli which merits close scrutiny - I've served up steamed organic grubs three times in recent months).
Kayleigh, provided you aren't going to eat the skin, you needn't bother washing the unpeeled fruit - if you are zesting the citrus fruit for a juicer or recipe, you need to either buy unwaxed or scrub well to remove the wax coating.

I wash fruit under cold water, is all. It was a 'mare in Indonesia as all fruit and veg had to be soaked in a bactericidal liquid mixed with bottled water for 30 mims. Then it was rinsed off with more bottled water, as tap water is too polluted for anything but washing bodies and clothes. I really, really appreciated our UK tap water when we got home - heavens, we can even clean our teeth with it!

Most ours get is a rinse under the cold water tap.

When I was at college my boyfriend worked at a supermarket and told me a lot of horror stories about the way the fruit and veg was handled (wont go into details - will put you off!)

So as a result I give my fruit and veg a really good wash!

have been told that washing them under the cold tap gets rid of some of chemicals, that's all I do and sometimes with grapes and stuff get them straight out of the packet and eat them..

You're supposed to wash them???

Actually, the apple thing was based on a bit of a misconception.

Yes, Aloha, and never forget conditioner before blow-drying.

We get an organic delivery which I flap vaguely under the cold tap.

i wash fruit ad veg in hot water and scrape certain hard fruits with a knife. Apples always feel so waxy even after washing. I heard it was safer to remove the skins because of all the pesticides. All the nutrients r in th skins so what a waste. I have also heard that organic fruit/veg is the safest way to eat but also very epensive

Organic vegetables and fruit need more not less washing than non-organic. Just because they are organic does mean pesticides weren't used, just that organically approved pesticides were used...some of these are particularly nasty for those of us with allergies. Not ALL the nutrients are in the skin. Personally I wash non-peeled fruit because of who might have handled it with their bare hands before I bought it.

sofiaames, i didn't know that, very interesting, so what is the benefit of buying organic fruit/veg?

We soak things like grapes, spinach, lettuce in sink of tap water. Most other fruit gets a wash under tap water. Don't wash fruit that you don't eat the skin such as bananas, oranges or kiwifruit.
Do this whether organic or non-organic.

Never bother, unless something like a carrot has visible dirt on it.

I've been told unwashed lettuce is one of the worst things for food poisoning - not sure if that's true. I always wash any fruit n veg under cold running tap water.

Another cold rinser... I scrub potatoes than peel eyes/green bits, rather than peel them entirely, though. I only peel the carrots because DH believes in it (like religion) and the Guinea Pigs love the peelings.

I understood that you're supposed to wash almost everything without a thick peel in weakly soapy warm water... can't face it, in general.

Not much as far as I'm (and my father's) concerned.

quick rince for ds but for the rest of us my atitude was it hasnt killed me yet with veg like carrot i always scub them as you can see the dirt and any leafy veg is always torn apart rinsed and left to soak on cold water over night plus it makes preping the next day easier and if im concered i buy frozen plus the is no such thing as truely organic because if the farmer in the next field dont do organic the pestiside that he sprays in his field get blown into the wind and carried over personaly i think organic is just a gimic in fruit and veg to get us to spend more money but in meat and poultry if you can afford organic or free range you can taste the difference straight away