We all know we're supposed to wash our fruits and vegetables before we cook or eat them, but how do you know how much washing is enough? And should you use soap or is water plenty? The editors over at Cook's Illustrated recently took on this question, washing apples and pears with four different methods. They discovered that using a scrub brush with water was fairly effective, removing 85% of bacteria, but that using a solution of one part vinegar to three parts water was the best. That method removed 98% of the bacteria.
A good way of keeping that vinegar around is to fill a spray bottle with the stuff and leave it by the sink. Simply spritz the item that needs to be cleaned with a little bit of the solution and rinse off with cold water. Ninety-eight percent clean fruits and veggies will result!
Via NPR
(Thanks for the tip, Megan!)
Soy and chickpeas might help stroke victims
The world of pie and tart crusts
Starbucks launches the Piadini 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-25-2007 @ 2:21AM
anata said...
washing is to get pesticides off... not bacteria. Our digestive system can manage these bacteria without problems, not the pesticides & additional chems put on the fruits to make the shiny...
Reply
9-25-2007 @ 8:56AM
Beany said...
Personally, I'm more concerned with removing the preservative wax that most apples are treated with- so I just rub it on my jumper.
Is it because of bacterial contamination that people are advised to wash fruit? I thought it was more to do with pesticide residues.
Reply
9-25-2007 @ 9:22AM
Adam Fields said...
It's a sad day for your food supply if you need to spray your apples with vinegar before eating them.
Perhaps you should look into finding food that isn't contaminated with bacteria that will kill you.
Reply
9-25-2007 @ 9:30AM
Jon said...
Has anyone ever gotten sick from the bacteria that live on a fresh, non-rotting apple? I just rinse the apple to get the dirt off. If I'm eating apples while picking, I just rub them on my shirt. People are too obsessed with food safety.
Reply
9-25-2007 @ 12:00PM
wintem01 said...
Personally, I'll risk the plain water method rather than bite into a vinegar flavored apple.
Reply
9-25-2007 @ 11:40PM
Paula from Only Cookware said...
Bacteria doesn't bother me. I am more concerned with the chemicals they use these days.
Reply