The answer is a resounding yes! Your fruits and vegetables were picked and can easily have dirt, bacteria and pesticides on them. You don’t necessarily know who was picking your fruits and vegetables and who all handled them during transport and packaging either. Properly washing your fruits and vegetables will clean that off, and it will help to prevent foodborne illnesses.
And even if you DID know where they were grown, I can tell you that anytime I, Matt or any of our friends or family have picked fruits and vegetables, we just pick them and bag them up. We don’t wash them, and most people don’t. They expect YOU to wash them yourself before you cook them. Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Well there is a peel on the fruit or vegetable, and I’m not going to eat that, so I don’t need to wash it. When you cut or peel it, you the knife or peeler slices through it and can actually transfer bacteria to the part of the fruit or vegetable that you are going to eat. Eye opening, right?!
The good news is that it is so quick and easy to wash your fruits and vegetables, I promise! Just dilute 1/4 cup of your wash (I use Veggie Wash here) in a bowl of water. Just soak and swish the fruits and veggies around for about 30 seconds, and then rinse them off. It is that simple, but will make such a difference! And when you get done, just look at the leftover dirty water. Yuck! That’s what you might have ingested.
Once you wash the fruit and vegetables, they can spoil quicker, so just make sure you wash them close to when you plan on eating them. And rest assured knowing that you are taking an extra step to help prevent yourself from ingesting bacteria like salmonella, E. coli and listeria, all which can make you really sick. It will take a handful of minutes tops, and it is worth it for your health. What do you think? Do you wash your fruits and veggies? I’ll be honest; I didn’t used to, but I started ALWAYS washing them with more than just water now, and I’m so glad I did.
