Hey all, I'm new here (well, I was here years ago, but I'm a born-again newbie.) Anyway, I was wondering what is the best way to wash greens--I couldn't find any answers in the search. I bought some kale to juice today, but they didn't have any organic, just conventional, and I'd like to figure out how to get off as much pesticides as possible. I found an article online about adding a small amount of bleach to the water to kill pests that might be there, but that seems to be getting away from the whole point of 'organic.' Help, please? Thank you.

i use a bit of food grade hydrogen peroxide in the water for my fruits and veggies wash

ick id never use bleach

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

about an 1/8th of a cup (you will have to check the dilution levels for whatever food grade peroxide you get) and soak them in a full sink for 15-20 min

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

I use my water ozonater to wash the more problematic greens such as watercress which often harbors parasites.

for goodness sake - just rinse under the tap - don't add any more junk to the load!!!

p.s we have good water in the uk (countryside)

My concern wasn't the quality of the water I was using to wash them... I was worried because the kale I got was not organic and had a visible layer of waxy pesticide (or something?) on it and I wanted to clean it and the dirt/pests off as best as I could without poisoning myself (bleach) or leaving most of it still on there (tap water.)

think you are mad if you wanna use bleach... notice the toxic symbol on the side of the bottle?

I have a water ozonator here which i use to ozonate tap water or ozonate water in general anyway which has many many benefits, anti-cancer, immune boosting, anti-microbial, destroys pathogens and other things in water.

So no reason why i shouldn't use it to wash the greens if ive got it here, its FDA approved for that use.

I'm sure tap water will get off all the dirt and bugs. As for chemicals - many that are used are systemic - meaning they are taken up by the plant and absorbed all through the plants system - leaves, stems, roots - by definition you cannot wash it off.

Incidentally - some produce that I can get here - in very rural UK is often produced without any chemicals but not labelled organic. This is because farmers often have to jump through many hoops, often costing them a lot of money to get the organic status and so they don't bother. Many farmers farm in a way that is beneficial to the conditon of the soil and to all the organisms that keep a soil healthy. It's worth asking the farmer who is producing the stuff what they have used - it may not be as bad as you think - (although I have heard that the amount of chemical use in the States is massive.)

I think it worth considering that not all non organic food is laden with toxic chemicals - you just have to find out

I have also used a few drops of citrus seed extract in the wash water.

while many chemicals might be systemic .. many are topical and remain so .. its great flipperjan that you have that much confidence in your tap water .. here where i live (canada).. i dont have that confidence

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

The tap water varies from place to place here in the UK. The city water is not so good but in very rural areas it's not bad at all. My water tastes great - when my daughter comes to stay (she lives in a city) she always remarks upon it.

Im getting some really bad tap water at the moment in the UK, think im going to have to call out the water people again.

I dont really use water much unless washing salads or for herbal teas, i mainly stick to bottled water.

How bad are greens to eat non-organic? I've never seen them on the top ten lists for heavily sprayed foods, but considering they are just a leaf that could get eaten by pests I assume they would be sprayed with something.

I could eat a lot more/better if I didn't have to buy organic. It sucks sometimes. :\

I don't overly worry about it to be honest Cora, i do try to buy all organic produce but in some cases its just not available.

Corathegreen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How bad are greens to eat non-organic? I've never
> seen them on the top ten lists for heavily sprayed
> foods, but considering they are just a leaf that
> could get eaten by pests I assume they would be
> sprayed with something.
>
> I could eat a lot more/better if I didn't have to
> buy organic. It sucks sometimes. :\

Look at it this way--what are you gonna eat instead? I would rather have a conventional salad than eat a piece of pizza with white flour!

I am told brassicas (cabbage leaves, mustards, arugula, brocolli, etc.) do not harbor pathogens. Don't know for sure.

I use hydrogen peroxide

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