Of course, all the housewives strive to indulge their home-made food not only tasty, but also useful. To benefit from fruits and vegetables, you need, among other things, to wash them properly.
Thorough washing of fruits and vegetables allows you to remove dirt and some microorganisms that may be on their surface. In addition, during washing, it is possible to clean products from various chemicals that are often used during the cultivation of vegetables and fruits, in combating diseases and various pests. For washing, you can use colander, special mesh for washing or sieve.
General rules for washing
- Imported fruit-vegetables should be carefully washed with a brush( for best effect - wash in soapy water and then rinse with clean water) to get rid of the wax and paraffin that the products often cover so they do not spoil during long transportation.
- For children, experts recommend fruits and vegetables pre-soaked in cold water: it is believed that water will take some of the harmful substances contained inside the fetus. The main thing is to peel the skin from the products, especially if it is very beautiful, glossy and without any flaws.
- After washing, the products are not stored for a long time, it is necessary to clean them as soon as possible and let them be further processed to avoid a significant loss of vitamins and other useful substances.
- When cleaning fruits and vegetables, only stainless steel appliances should be used to preserve their useful properties.
- If there are yellow spots under the skin of cucumbers, potatoes or zucchini, this is an indicator of the significant content of nitrates. It is better not to eat such foods. The amount of nitrates in carrots, potatoes can be reduced if after washing they put in salt water for a day. However, in this case, along with nitrates will go and vitamins.
Washing technology for various vegetables
- In most cases white cabbage is not washed. It simply removes all faded leaves, or those that are contaminated or infected by pests, until they reach fresh and clean leaves. Necessarily it is necessary to cut out a cob - it is the main source of nitrates.(But what a pleasure we gnawed on them a couple of decades ago!. ..)
- Lettuce, green garlic and onion, sorrel, rhubarb, dill, spinach, parsley, first sorted. Then remove the existing roots, hard stems, damaged leaves and feathers. At the head of lettuce for a start it is necessary to cut off roots, and then carefully to disassemble on separate leaves. In order to clean the greens from the ground and sand, it is necessary to lower it into a container of water and change the water until the dirt settles. Be sure to thoroughly wash the sinuses of the leaves. Finally, lettuce leaves should be washed under the "shower" from the tap. After all these procedures, the greens are spread on a sieve or on a napkin in order for the glass to water.
- Before washing salad celery, you first need to cut off its roots, clean the dark places of the stems. Next, you need to hold the stems for several hours in cold water and then rinse 2 times in clean water.
- Nettles. A plant without a root should be lowered into boiling water for a few minutes, and then, after cooling a little, it is necessary to separate the leaves for further use.
- Before washing the leeks, it is necessary to remove its upper leaves, which have deteriorated, and cut them along so that the sand and dirt can wash out. Then it should be washed in a lot of water.
- Darkened places on cauliflower should be cleaned with a knife or grater, kohlrabi should be released from the skin. Before preparing artichokes, you must cut off their stem and remove rough, damaged leaves, and then rinse in cold water. For cooking, only baskets and the base of leaves of artichoke are used, everything else is inedible. Beforehand, before cleaning, asparagus needs to be washed in a container with cold water, so that later it can be used for cooking chips and trimming. A small but sharp knife is used to clean the asparagus. The peel is removed with a thin layer, retreating from the head by 2 cm. Then the chips must be quickly washed in cold water. In the inflorescences of all the above cultures, small insects often crawl. In order to easily get rid of them, you need to hold vegetables for 5-10 minutes in well-salted water or 30 minutes in water diluted with vinegar( 1 tablespoon per 1 liter of cool water).Then the insects can be drained with water.
- Brussels sprouts can not be cut beforehand, as it wilts. Before washing it in cold water, remove all damaged areas.
- Potatoes, beetroot, carrots, radish, radish and horseradish must first be cleaned from the ground before washing: pour them with warm water and let stand for a while, then brush off the dirt with a brush. After cleansing, it is best to wash the vegetables with warm water, and then with cold water. Then you can start peeling.
- Before washing onions it is necessary to cut it off the bottom, clean it from the husks. Then rinse the onions in cold water.
- Tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, bell peppers, squash, pumpkin, eggplant, bean and pea pods must be washed in flowing water( can be brushed).
- Corn corn should be freed from leaves and rinsed in cool water.
- Quail vegetables should be washed with cold water, if the taste has worsened( cucumbers become very salty and cabbage is too acidic).
And about washing fruits
Citrus fruits should be washed with running cold water, but they must be scalded with boiling water first to remove the surface preservatives.
Pineapple should be washed under running water along with the leaves, then let dry.
Almost all other fruits( pears, plums, apples, bananas, pomegranates, apricots, etc.) must be washed under cold water and preferably with soap, then rinsed in clean water.
Foreign producers suggest using special detergents instead of soap when washing fruits and vegetables. But our products are not yet very widespread.
Rules and Tricks of Cooking