1. Off-season vegetables that appear early on the market are often treated with large amounts of pesticides due to being out of sync with the climate, so they should be washed several times.
2. It is best to wash vegetables with plain water. Using salt water for vegetables treated with fat-soluble pesticides can actually make them harder to clean.
3. Do not cut vegetables before washing to prevent nutrient loss.
4. Vegetables should ideally not be eaten raw. If you must eat them raw, wash them thoroughly several times.
5. Blanching vegetables is better than boiling them, as some pesticides can evaporate with the steam.
6. When washing vegetables, it's best to first soak them in a basin of water and then rinse them under a running faucet.
7. For cabbage and Napa cabbage, remove the outermost leaves before washing each individual leaf separately.
8. For bok choy and similar small greens, first cut off the roots and then wash them upright.
9. For bitter melon and small cucumbers, if you are not peeling them, you should scrub them with a soft brush.
10. For vegetables like peas, sword beans, chive flowers, and small cucumbers, which have a long harvest period, more pesticides are often sprayed to prevent pests from attacking the immature parts. Therefore, they must be washed thoroughly several times.