Fruits and vegetables are very healthy foods for our health, since they have multiple properties that provide great benefits for our body, benefit our immune system and make us less susceptible to many diseases. However, since they are foods that are often consumed raw, it is necessary to wash them correctly before consuming them, although it should also be done even if we are going to cook them well. Therefore, in this ecology article, we explain How to disinfect fruits and vegetables in an ecological way. Take note!
Why wash and disinfect fruits and vegetables
Fruits and vegetables can be contaminated During the planting, culture, storage, transport or manipulation process. This pollution can come from dirt or also from the use of chemical and pesticides. Therefore, to reduce the risk they may have for health, it is necessary, as we said at the beginning of this article, wash foods correctly before consumption.
Although, washing directly with water alone, you can get a lot to remove dirt, we can also add some natural product to enhance the disinfection effect. Examples of natural products to get a Ecological disinfection They can be the acid provided by lemon or vinegar.
How to disinfect fruits and vegetables in an ecological way – steps
If you want to learn to disinfect in a natural and ecological way fruits and vegetablesfollow these simple steps:
- Prior to food washing, you have to see your hands well, not to contaminate them more.
- It is better to wash fruits and vegetables before peeling or cutting them. This is so, because when you wash whole (with shell or skin), you prevent pathogens that could be present in the cortex, penetrate inside the food.
- Place the food a minimum of two minutes under the tap, or in a container with water. To remove excess dirt, you can help you with a brush or sponge, yes, soap free.
- Eliminates some external leaves in fruits and vegetables, since they can be a source of contamination for the rest of the food when the part in which polluting agent has been accumulated.
- To disinfect, you can use several natural products that we will explain below so that you choose the one that suits you, as well as the steps to follow according to the product you choose.
- If you are going to cut the food or cook them right after this washing, clean the manipulation utensils.
The best organic products to disinfect fruits and vegetables
Some of the Homemade products to disinfect fruits and vegetablesbefore cutting and cooking them, which are more indicated and effective:
Sodium bicarbonate
It is a habitual product in houses. It is economical and easy to achieve, which also serves to cook or treat different health problems. Another of its uses is the cleanliness and disinfection of fruits and vegetables.
What we will do for cleaning is to dilute a soup tablespoon of sodium bicarbonate in a liter of water and place fruits and/or vegetables for 10 minutes to soak.
Vinegar
Vinegar is one of the best natural disinfectants that exist, since it eliminates any kind of bacteria by having a very powerful antimicrobial effect. Like bicarbonate, vinegar is an economic product, easy to get and very common at home. In addition, it is good for health and has no toxic effect.
To prepare it we must dilute a glass of vinegar in a liter of water and soak our fruits or vegetables for 10 minutes. We can also spray the food with spay before cooking it.
Lemon
The lemon has great disinfectant and antibacterial properties, thanks to its high concentration of citric acid. It can be combined with vinegar to make a natural disinfectant that eliminates any pathogen from fruits and vegetables.
To prepare it, we must mix water with lemon well and the vinegar. Using a proportion of three parts of water by one of vinegar and lemon is sufficient. We must soak fruits and vegetables for 10 minutes. After taking them out, we will rinse them and dry them with a rag or a clean towel.
Hydrogen peroxide
Oxygenated hydrogen is bleaching, disinfectant and fungicide (to eliminate fungi), with which vegetables and vegetables that tend to create fungi, such as mushrooms or tomatoes can be cleaned and disinfected.
In its preparation, you have to be very careful because it is a very strong and toxic product if it is ingested in a certain amount, so we must dilute it very well in water, using only 10 ml per 250 ml of water. After using it, we must wash the food very well before consumption.
Another effective preparation is combine vinegar, lemon juice and bicarbonate. In this way, we can enhance the disinfectant effect and use them to wash potatoes, radishes, carrots and other types of tubers. It is better to use vinegar, lemon or bicarbonate, rather than that of hydrogen peroxide, since they do not have toxic potential.
In this other ecology article, you can learn more about how to make a natural disinfectant for various aspects, such as the disinfection of vegetables and fruits, but also for the house, hands, and so on. In addition, below we leave you a video of our YouTube channel where you can learn more about how to use these natural products to disinfect food and also know someone else.
If you want to read more articles similar to How to disinfect fruits and vegetables in an ecological waywe recommend that you enter our category of other ecology.
