3 Ways to Clean Your Produce — William Charleton

Whether we’re in the midst of a pandemic or not, it’s a good idea to wash your vegetables. Not only are fruits and vegetables contaminated with viruses, bacteria and fungus, but also a wide variety of pesticides. Did you know in the United States, a billion pounds of pesticides are used each year? Even organically grown produce has pesticides. No matter where it’s from, it’s not something you want to eat. Look at the roots of the words making up “pesticide.” “Pest” is derived from the word “pest” and “cide” means killer. Organic or not, they’re designed to kill. Don’t get me started on fertilizer. That’s a whole other post.

So you’ve got your produce and you take it home. It’s time for dinner. First things first, wash the vegetables. You have a couple options here. You can do a quick rinse in tap water, you can soak in vinegar, ozonated water or bleach or you could do an ultrasonic bath.

My preferred methods, in order, are ozone, vinegar and bleach. Of the three ozone is the most effective. Vinegar and bleach are easier, but not as effective. And bleach seems a little harsh for something I’m going to ingest. I’ll be honest here though. If I were growing my own food in my own green house, I’d do nothing more than a quick rinse and brush the dirt off. That’s where the beneficial microbes are!

While ozone is the most effective, it does require having an ozone generator. The upside, is that you can use it for a variety of purposes. Take caution though, it can be deadly if used improperly.

Ozone is a strong oxidizer. In fact, it’s the strongest oxidizer in the world. Ozone is three oxygen molecules attached at the hip. It’s created through electricity, photosynthesis and ultraviolet radiation. An O2 molecule splits, and then each O molecule attaches to an O2, making two O3 molecules. When ozone comes in contact with pesticides, it makes for rapid decomposition. They break down into CO2, H2O and other non toxic compounds. It has a similar effect on viruses (Including SARS-CoV-2 which causes COVID-19) and bacteria, which are essentially torn apart in the presence of ozone.

Now for the important part, the How To. Fill your sink or a bowl with water. Submerge your produce. Take your ozone generator, and stick the tube in the water. Turn on and set a timer for 15-20 minutes. Afterwards, drain the sink, give a quick rinse and you’re done!

For vinegar, you’ll also do a soak for 15-20 minutes. You’ll probably want to dilute to not less than a 1:4 ratio of vinegar to water. You can go all vinegar if you want, but I don’t think it’s necessary. The acid in the vinegar will kill most bacteria and inactivate viruses and degrade most common pesticides. Because it’s the acid doing the work, any vinegar will work, however I recommend white vinegar. It’s cheap.

Bleach should be an obvious choice. There’s a reason municipal water supplies are treated with chlorine. It’s a disinfectant and will kill bacteria and viruses. But here’s the twist. Bleach is a pesticide. And it won’t remove pesticides from your produce. If you’re going this route, you really need to dilute it. A lot. Use one teaspoon of bleach per gallon of water.

You also need to be careful with bleach. Do not mix it with vinegar. That’s how you make chlorine gas. Don’t mix it with alcohol. That’s how you make chloroform. Don’t mix it with ammonia. That’s how you make chloramine gas and you’re probably already getting enough of that when you take a shower.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!