How to Make Your Own Fruit & Vegetable Wash
Manufactured sprays and detergents specially formulated to remove the waxes and other residues from fresh fruit and vegetables has been a big seller in recent years, as concerns over additives and pesticides on our produce continue to rise. But there’s no need to buy bottled fruit and vegetable wash – now that markets are beginning to burst with fresh produce again, it’s simple to make your own all-natural version, using ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.
All you need is a spray bottle from the dollar store – or wash and reuse one you already have. Shake the ingredients together (strain lemon juice if you’re squeezing it from a lemon so that pulp doesn’t get stuck in the spray bottle) and spray over your produce, then rinse to get rid of any metallic taste from the baking soda. Store your produce wash in the fridge for up to a couple weeks.
Homemade Produce Wash: shake 2 cups water, 1/4 cup baking soda and 2 Tbsp. lemon juice in a spray bottle. Spray on produce, then rinse with water before prepping or eating. Store bottled wash in the fridge for 2 weeks.
Formula adapted from Salt, Lemons, Vinegar and Baking Soda, a Reduce/Reuse/Recycle Handbook, by Shea Zukowski (although I’ve seen similar formulas elsewhere, too!)
Fruit & vegetable photo credit: Stock.xchng
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