Keeping our Vegetables Clean Series

Farm-grown vegetables are a crucial aspect of our diet, finding their way into our stews, soups, sauces, and sometimes even consumed raw.

While they are highly nutritious, they can also pose risks to our health if not handled properly. Farm-grown vegetables face potential exposure to various contaminants and disease-causing microbes (pathogens) such as pesticides, fertilisers, manure from farm animals and sewage water, just to mention a few.

Moreover, during transportation, sale and handling, vegetables are often touched with bare hands, potentially laden with germs, further increasing the risk of food contamination.

Therefore, it is essential to wash your vegetables thoroughly before consuming them. In this article, we will explore an effective method for washing vegetables, ensuring their safety and the well-being of you and your family.

Wash your vegetables with salt before use

This is one of the best and safest ways. Saltwater can remove most surface pesticide and germ-laden residues by depriving them of moisture, which is required for their survival. In a little high-salt solution, bacteria, for instance, get killed by losing all their water to the environment in a process known as osmodehydration.

 This is why salt water is an excellent way to wash vegetables! Here are two simple steps for doing that:

Remove debris with clean water

First, wash your vegetables with regular, clean water. When washing your vegetables, use a clean bowl containing enough clean water. Next, toss the vegetables in the clean water and gently swish or move them around to remove any dirt.

 Separate and rinse each green vegetable separately. Do this repeatedly. Make sure all surfaces of the vegetable are clean and that the wash water obtained is quite transparent and less dirty. Otherwise, wash vegetables in clean, running water.

After carefully cleaning the vegetables, drain them and pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel. Your vegetables look almost ready for use in your favourite recipes!

However, using only regular water, even though it is clean, could also be dangerous as regular water could even make the environment more suitable for gem growth on the vegetable.

Brine away

Using salt with a low concentration of 2–3 per cent to wash farm-grown vegetables after using regular water is a simple and effective way. To do so, fill a clean basin or washbasin with cold water and add salt (about 2–3 teaspoons per 500 mL of cup).

 Stir to dissolve the salt, then soak the vegetables in the saltwater solution for a few minutes, while gently swishing them about. After soaking, rinse the vegetables under clean, regular running water to remove any excess salt and dirt. Finally, dry them with a clean kitchen towel.

Nevertheless, farm-grown vegetables that have been soaked or rinsed in large amounts of saltwater may lose their flavour. Vegetables can absorb saltwater and an excessive salt concentration can provide a salty or highly seasoned flavour.

 Therefore, when making the saltwater solution for washing vegetables, ensure you use the right amount of salt and rinse the vegetables thoroughly to eliminate any excess salt. This will assist in preserving the vegetables' natural flavours and prevent salt from overwhelming them.

While saltwater washing is beneficial for cleaning vegetables, it is still critical to prioritise food safety practices such as storing them properly and maintaining good hygiene during handling to prevent contamination and foodborne illnesses.

Good luck!

Guess what? In some cases, this might not be enough!
In the following series, we look at another excellent approach to keeping our vegetables safe. Until then, brine away!

NFSSS Editorial Board
Nutrition and Food Science Students’ Society
University of Ghana
NFS—Food Security for Improved Health
nfsssuglegon@gmail.com