Pamper Your Produce to Avoid Pesticides

With prepackaged produce, you have the advantage of almost guaranteed consistency. There is a certain kind of convenience from prewashed, precut food that are readily available at the supermarket. However, these prepackaged products are typically more expensive than loose produce. Save yourself a few dollars and purchase your veggies separately or by the pound. You’ll find yourself spending less and reducing waste.

The one inconvenience I have found with produce is the daunting process of cleaning it. It’s important to wash your fruits and veggies not only to scrape off the grime but also to remove the residue from herbicides and pesticides. Fortunately, there is a simple solution. Vegetable sprays have been popping up in supermarkets all over. These sprays are made with natural ingredients and promise to remove harmful ingredients with ease.

At first, vegetable sprays were a foreign concept to me. Growing up, my mother used to wash my fruits and vegetables with water. As the years passed, local news programs sensationalized the harmful repercussions of herbicides and pesticides. They warned our community that without proper cleansing, our vegetables can trigger cancer development.

I started to soak my berries, and when I heard that water wasn’t enough, I added lemon and even baking soda. In recent years, these vegetable spray bottles began to pop up in the market. My mind immediately crossed them off as harmful. To be fair, they’re packaged in the same container as your household cleaning agents. To my surprise, the bottle only costs around five dollars. I wanted to see the results for myself.

Produce washes in general are used as a way of removing pesticides, wax, dirt, and other residues. The washes are sprayed on the outer, hard-skin layer of fruits and vegetables and are then rinsed off with water or can be used to soak soft-skinned produce. Many commercial washes on the market are currently made with ingredients such as citrus, coconut, corn, and other plant-based sources. While these types of sprays are generally considered safe, the actual effectiveness of these washes are a debate. In a study done at Tennessee State University, they found that water worked just as well as the sprays.

In many cases, using a natural produce cleaner will alleviate the fear of bacteria and dirt on your food; but there is no need to shell out the cash for these expensive products. You can make your own spray using ingredients you probably have in your own home or ones that you can easily pick up at your local market.

One cup of water and one cup of white vinegar mixed together can kill bacteria as well as dissolve residues; just spray on, scrub, and rinse with water. You can even add one tablespoon of baking soda and two tablespoons of lemon juice to spice up your own natural solution. Salt and grapefruit seed extract are two more examples of ingredients you can add to your own homemade solution as well.

Trial and error never hurt and it’s better to be safe than sorry. If you are someone who typically eats vegetable hearty meals, or if you are someone who is trying to incorporate more vegetables into your lifestyle, I hope this will shed light on proper produce cleaning.

Your Turn to Take Action: Make your own natural vegetable cleaner at home and test it out on your fruits and vegetables. Let me know in the comments below if you prefer store bought or homemade!

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