Some people like to chop vegetables before washing them, thinking it gets them cleaner, but this is not scientific.
After vegetables are cut, their direct contact area with water increases many times over, which causes water-soluble vitamins such as B vitamins, vitamin C, and some minerals, as well as some water-soluble sugars, to dissolve in the water and be lost. At the same time, chopping vegetables also increases the chance of contamination by bacteria on the vegetable surface, leaving a hidden health risk. Therefore, vegetables should not be cut before washing, but should be washed first and then cut.
Some more suitable vegetable washing methods are listed below.
Soaking in light salt water:
Generally, vegetables should be rinsed with clean water at least 3 to 6 times first, then soaked in light salt water for 1 hour, and then rinsed with clean water once. For vegetables like cabbage, you can first cut them open, soak them in clean water for 2 hours, and then rinse with clean water to remove residual pesticides.
Cabbage should be cut and soaked. Before eating vegetables like cabbage and broccoli, attention should be paid to cleaning and soaking. According to Professor Li Lizhen from the Department of Biology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Normal University, the cabbage white butterfly, also known as the cabbage butterfly, its larvae are the common cabbage worm.
This insect is found all over the country and is a serious pest for cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, and leaf lettuce. Although the cabbage butterfly itself is harmless, the cabbage worm bites the leaves, and the bitten wounds are prone to inducing soft rot disease.
Alkaline washing:
First, put a pinch of alkali powder or sodium carbonate into the water, stir it evenly, then put in the vegetables and soak for 5 to 6 minutes, then rinse with clean water. You can also use baking soda, but the soaking time should be appropriately extended to about 15 minutes.
Blanching with boiling water:
When cooking green peppers, cauliflower, beans, celery, etc., it is best to blanch them in boiling water before cooking to remove 90% of residual pesticides.
Sunlight disinfection:
Sunlight on vegetables can decompose and destroy some residual pesticides. It has been measured that after vegetables and fruits are exposed to sunlight for 5 minutes, the residue of organochlorine and organomercury pesticides will be reduced by 60%. For vegetables that are easy to store, they should be left at room temperature for about two days, with an average disappearance rate of residual chemical pesticides of 5%.
Washing with rice washing water:
Rice washing water is acidic, and organophosphate pesticides lose their toxicity when they come into contact with acidic substances. Soaking in rice washing water for about 10 minutes, then washing with clean water, can reduce the residual pesticide components in vegetables.