Pesticides residues may still be present in the fruits and vegetables we buy and bring home. Even though the mere presence of pesticide residue in food does not imply that they pose a great health risk, you should be extremely careful of what you buy and where you buy it from, and the best way to stay safe is to buy 100% PESTICIDE FREE produce (where food is grown without the use of ANY pesticides like ours at VertiVegies, thus leaving no residue at all). But when buying pesticide free is not available to you, fret not as here are some easy ways you can cleanse your food the DIY way:
Wash Your Food (and wash it right!)
Almost 75% to 80% of pesticide residue is removed by cold water washing. Washing your food with salt water (2%) will remove most of the contact pesticide residues that normally appear on the surface of the vegetables and fruits. Do be more thorough with grapes, apples, guava, plums, mangoes, peaches, pears, tomatoes, brinjal and okra as they might carry more residue in their crevices.
Soak Your Food In Acid! (ok, a mild acid like vinegar will do)
Whip up a solution with 10 percent white vinegar and 90 percent water and soak your veggies and fruits in them. Stir them around and rinse thoroughly. Be careful while washing fruits like berries, and those with a thin peel as the solution might damage their porous outer-skin.
Blanch & Peel
Treat your vegetables to warm water for a short while and this should remove any leftover residue. Peeling is another efficient way to remove residue and comes highly recommended especially when there might be some residue in the crevices of the fruit. Also, when cooking with chicken or meat, cut off the excess fat and skin as it could have absorbed unwanted pesticide residue.
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