Cleaning Your Produce: Step by Step Guide
The best food is from your local, organic Arlington, VA farm - it’s freshly harvested, full of nutrients and flavor, and delivered straight to your door. While we hold ourselves to a high standard and pride ourselves on clean farming and clean eating, you should still wash your food.
Below are our recommendations for the simplest and most effective ways to clean your produce.
Step By Step Guide:
You do not need to purchase special produce washes.
In fact, produce washes or soaps are not necessary, nor proven to be more effective than water or vinegar. If you’d like to use more than water, a solution of one part white vinegar and three parts water is effective at reducing bacteria on produce and doesn’t leave behind any aftertaste after a thorough post-soak rinse with fresh tap water.
Wash your hands and rinse out your sink.
Soak fruits and vegetables in the vinegar and water mixture for just a couple of minutes. (Skip this step if you are just using water to clean your produce).
Place produce in a clean colander.
With water running, gently rinse and rub your produce, careful to remove any excess soil.
For firmer-skinned produce, you can use a vegetable brush or damp paper towel to remove any soil.
Dry the freshly cleaned produce. Place greens and herbs in a salad spinner or lie them flat on a dry kitchen towel, patting with a paper towel to remove moisture. For root vegetables, just pat dry with a paper towel before storing.
Why Clean Your Food?
You’ve seen the news stories of recalls due to bacterial outbreaks in grocery chains. An estimated 48 million people each year fall victim to contaminated food from grocery stores. Grocery stores move produce through an immense transit network involving industrial, cargo-based shipping and many hands. Think of non-local produce like a dollar from an ATM - you never know exactly who touched your food before you.
Local Farms Give You the Power to Eat Clean
To avoid food contamination, source your food as locally as possible. Area 2 Farms grows and harvests organic produce, offering transparency in our growing processes. If you’d like to learn more, join one of our Farm Tours - you’ll witness exactly how and where your food is grown. And you will meet the only people whose hands will touch your food before it gets to your kitchen.
