Do you scrub your vegetables and fruit before eating them?

I use an Enjo cloth and this has a "prickly" type side on one side, and the other side is to dry.

There are fruits that the chemicals soak into -bad ones are potatoes, and apples to name a few and at least I am getting any surface chemicals off by using this method.

Having grown my own vegetables and fruit, they must put an awful lot of chemicals on to stop worms, moths, snails and many other pests from eating the fruit and vegetables.

A friend had apricot trees and she had to spray at least 3 times when they were on the tree -nasty chemicals!

by Finy

I do wash my vegetables ,but most fruits I have to peel due to a salicylate allergy,so it is overkill! I wash my strawberries and definitely grapes which I cannot justify peeling! If I am not going to peel,then I give a good rinse with cold water!

by Jules

I scrub potatoes. Other fruit and veg I wash but don't actually use a scrubbing brush on. It's not just pesticides, there are lots of bacteria, like listeria, that grow in soil.

By the way, organic farmers use pesticides too, they are just restricted to using natural (which doesn't necessarily mean safer) rather than artificial pesticides. In fact they may actually use more pesticide because organic pesticides are less effective.

https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~lhom/organictext.html

"Contrary to what most people believe, "organic" does not automatically mean "pesticide-free" or "chemical-free". In fact, under the laws of most states, organic farmers are allowed to use a wide variety of chemical sprays and powders on their crops.

So what does organic mean? It means that these pesticides, if used, must be derived from natural sources, not synthetically manufactured. Also, these pesticides must be applied using equipment that has not been used to apply any synthetic materials for the past three years, and the land being planted cannot have been treated with synthetic materials for that period either... A recent study compared the effectiveness of a rotenone-pyrethrin mixture versus a synthetic pesticide, imidan. Rotenone and pyrethrin are two common organic pesticides; imidan is considered a "soft" synthetic pesticide (i.e., designed to have a brief lifetime after application, and other traits that minimize unwanted effects). It was found that up to 7 applications of the rotenone- pyrethrin mixture were required to obtain the level of protection provided by 2 applications of imidan.

It seems unlikely that 7 applications of rotenone and pyrethrin are really better for the environment than 2 applications of imidan, especially when rotenone is extremely toxic to fish and other aquatic life."

by Jennifer Muirhead

Or we could just . . . . . .

by Rice

I do wash my fruits and vegetables. Even organic ones from my garden - because they get air pollution and dirt on them, if not actual chemical sprays. I don't scrub too much, but a quick wash under the tap is always done.

by lizzi

YES!

Do not like the idea of eating anything more than the fruit or veg on my plate.

P.S...That is not 'water' that is being sprayed on the crops in my picture...It is good old Pesticides.

by jonaja

Yes, always!
Have a specific brush for vege & fruit 'scrubbing'!

by donjo

Yes I do. There are some veggies that have little bugs and worms hiding inside so washing is a must.

by Gia

No I don't. I guess I am not as precious about it as some people are. I am still alive, despite all those nasties on my fruit and veg.

by Lluxi

quick wash under tap usually ok here in Australia! We don't have that much chemical spray stuff like you do in the US..and wax on apples not good..

by bron6

yes, we do! we have heaps of chemical sprays on most fruit.....they are not supposed to spray within a week of taking to market however most fruit needs constant spray or it would not look like it does.
Evidence is organic fruit/veggies -often look horrible!

The look of them isn't really evidence of more pesticide spraying. It probably has more to do with the scale of the farms. Bigger farms can reject any fruit or veg that doesn't look "perfect" before it's sold (hence why what you see looks nicer) and heaps is wasted. That's why they are now finally starting to sell "seconds" in Woolies now.

Woah! We have horrible chemicals here in Australia, a rinse under the tap won't get them off either.

Scrub carrots
only purchase washed potatoes

by chris

Chris, you still NEED to cleanse so-called 'washed' spuds!

I'm a bit weird when it comes to washing vegetables.
I ALWAYS wash the broccoli, which I eat every week.
I don't wash vegetables if I'm going to peel them.
I wash zucchini which I buy often.
I do recall not washing a few vegetables, including an apple I ate the other week. Boy did I feel guilty for not washing it. I did rub it on my clothes first though.

by pippa

Yes I do wash my fruit and veg before eating them.

by AJ

what is a vegetable? what is fruit?

by fake

A vegetable is a numbskull with no common sense and a fruit is an impolite term for a gentleman who like to wear pink.

I peel most veges and wash fruit. I scrub pumpkins and apples with Sunlight soap and a brush as I like to eat pumpkin skin and I dehydrate most of my apples with the skin on. I use a microfibre cloth on more delicate items.

by Rice

I scrub only potatoes. I rinse others. But, I do like the idea of using a microfiber cloth.

by Vee

I was both. The other day I bought 2 punnets of strawberries. They were fresh looking and the colour I prefer. Went to take some out to wash for my morning shake and there was a bright green grub sitting on the larger one, not eating at all. Must have been the cold air helping it hold on to that particular strawberry. So glad I make a habit of washing everything.

by helga

Not really. I wash things like silver beet and spinach, I ca't really wash cabbage or even broccoli - If I wash broccoli it is only a rinse and I don't know how much good that does - little bit like washing cauliflower, you can ruin the vegetable and not want to cook or eat it. I don't wash pumpkin, I do give spuds a rinse but I don't know if a rinse does any good. Beans I rinse only, peas are frozen. Carrots I peel and onions . So I don't know, I think you can get too wound up in things and end up thinking that if I have to do all this guessing and working to get the meat and 3 vegetables on the plate…….I might not bother at all.

by fran.

I just wash them all under the cold tap, & usually peel the spuds before I cook them. I also wash my bananas in their skins, before we eat each 1, so any chemicals on them don't go into the compost.

by Miro