![]() ![]() Or other situations I don’t want to talk about here. Later, when I had time to think about this rationally, I realized that anything purchased in the cleanest supermarket may have spent some time on the ground or pavement on its way to the store. I will not go into details of the other substances I sometimes see on the same cobblestones, stuff I would never want to come into contact with anything edible, but the sight of this was enough to make me turn around and vow never to shop there again. No plastic bags or newspaper or anything, were between the cilantro, lettuces and watermelons and the cobblestones. Produce was being unloaded from a truck and placed directly on the pavement. This lesson was driven home to me a few years ago when I walked to our neighborhood store very early one morning. In short, everything fresh in the plant world that passes through your kitchen should be soaked in an antibacterial solution. (Bacteria on the peel can be transferred to the peeled fruit by your hands or knife.) Any produce that will be cooked should be soaked, because it may not be cooked long enough to kill certain bacteria, or it may contaminate other, already cleaned produce (that will be eaten raw) if stored in contact with them. Anything eaten raw needs to be soaked, whether it is peeled first or not. Produce that grows close to the ground, like cilantro, especially needs to be soaked. Using an antibacterial product in a soak solution will ensure clean produce, whether it is to be eaten raw or cooked.Īnything with a skin that you plan on removing before eating, like cantaloupes, watermelon, limes, and mangoes, should be soaked. Purified drinking water does not kill bacteria. Tap water, no matter how pure, will not kill bacteria. ![]() Washing fruits and vegetables in tap water, or even purified drinking water, is not sufficient if you want a sanitary kitchen producing healthy food. In Mexico (and other countries, including those north of the border), where sanitary practices are not always followed, from the time produce is grown and harvested, until it is delivered to the store, there are opportunities for contamination: unclean hands, waste water run-off, animal wastes, fertilizing with fresh manure, irrigating with unclean water. Soil, microbes and bacteria are found on the skins of fruits and vegetables. For those of us who live in Mexico, the practice of soaking all fresh produce in an antibacterial solution is necessary. This is not a pretty topic, but it’s something not to be ignored: how to clean fresh fruits and vegetables. ![]()
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