Cleaning Fresh Produce

The other day, I retrieved a box of fresh apples off a local tree. No pesticides – all organic – so wonderful and natural, Right???? Well, of course the worms think so too!

So I took my wonderful box of worm filled apples into the kitchen, poured them gently into the sink, put a stopper in and filled the sink with about 1 gallon of tap water. Next I placed ¼ cup of white vinegar and ¼ cup of lemon juice into the gallon of water. I swished the apples around a few times to ensure all sides were well covered with the vinegar, lemon water solution and let it sit for 15 minutes. Every few minutes, I returned to swish the apples again.

When my 15 minutes was up, I saw lots and lots of black specs and small “s” shaped “things” in the bottom of the sink – LOTS! I showed my son who exclaimed, “Ooooh, mom, worms!” and I explained the black dots were the worms poop.

Next it took out my cutting board and knife, then washed the apples 3 times in fresh, clean, filtered water. Placing them onto the cutting board, I cut around all the worm holes and black debris within the apples, carefully separating the worm portions into a separate bag to tie tightly and dispose of. Since the cutting board had black specs on it, I did one final rinse of the worm-free apple pieces in fresh, clean water, then placed them in a bowl for juicing.

Once I completed my soaking, washing, cutting, and final wash of my amazing apple harvest, I placed them (delightfully) into the juicer resulting in fresh, enzymatic apple juice – YUM! Some of it I placed into the VitaMix, added a banana, peach, and figs to a tongue tantalizing smoothie. My tummy was so very happy with me…

So you say, I won’t pick worm-filled apples. Well, guess what? Worms live on ALL fresh produce, especially berries and greens. They even lay their eggs to ensure a food source upon hatching. So what is the best way to treat all our produce prior to eating? If you don’t want to purchase “fruit and vegetable wash”, then the next best thing is the white vinegar and lemon soak. For 2 cups of water, add 1 Tbsp. of each, for one gallon of water soak, add up to ¼ cup of each and so on, proportional to the amount of water used for soaking. Final note: recently, I was eating at a local organic, farm fresh restaurant and looked down to see a worm crawling through my salad! I told the staff and all they had to say was that it was farm fresh produce… Ugggg…someone didn’t tell them about the “farm fresh produce wash”! OMG… it is so easy and works every time and keep your tummy happy 🙂