Soaking veggies

Don't just rinse your veggies, bathe them!

Got turned onto this excellent way to ensure no dirt or bugs are left on my veg by an old roomie. Especially effective for leafy veg, which have all kinds of ruffles and dips for dirt and critters to cling on to.

 Step 1: For bunch-growing veggies, cut off the connecting bit at the bottom and separate the leaves in water. If you don't want the stems, eg. in spinach, pinch or cut them off first. (Spinach is often the dirtiest thing to come home from the market!)

Step 2: Add some salt to a bowl of water. I just kinda toss in about a teaspoon. Here is a recipe for a vegetable wash that calls for more salt, as well as vinegar, to remove pesticides.

Step 3: Plunge veggies in and stir them around a bit with your hands. Leave for 5-10 minutes.

Step 4: Discard water (your plants will love it!) and fill bowl with fresh plain water. May need to repeat several times until the water bath is clean. I give a final rinse in a colander and get cookin'.

This also works for root veggies like potatoes when they're especially mucky - soaking them first loosens up the dirt and you don't need to scrub as hard. I think it also gets them cleaner.