Remove Pesticide Residue With This DIY Fruit and Veggie Wash

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No need for commercial produce wash. Instead, wash your produce with this DIY fruit and veggie wash.

diy fruit and veggie wash

While pesticides are definitely bad for the environment, they have revolutionised the way we eat over the past century.

After all, pesticides have helped farmers increase yields and reliably deliver an abundance of quality produce all year long.

The cornucopia is a luxury many millennia of ancestors never experienced. Step inside a store and buy tomatoes in winter and fresh dragon fruit from Asia and capsicum from Brazil.

Yes, there are definitely environmental downsides to this type of shopping, but it is a modern marvel all the same.

We no longer fear famine (in most countries) caused by pests and disease like the Irish potato famine.

However, just as pesticides aren’t all bad, they’re not all good either.

They’re not good for the environment, degrading the soil and poisoning water supply.

And they’re not so good for our health either.

“Laboratory studies show that pesticides can cause health problems, such as birth defects, nerve damage, cancer, and other effects that might occur over a long period of time.  However, these effects depend on how toxic the pesticide is and how much of it is consumed. Some pesticides also pose unique health risks to children.” 1

We can avoid consuming pesticides in our food by eating organic produce.

The Dirty Dozen and The Clean Fifteen

The problem is that going organic can be expensive and impractical for many people.

One alternative is to only buy organic produce from the Environmental Working Group’s  Dirty Dozen list. 

The Dirty Dozen list includes the 12 most heavily sprayed fruits and vegetables. If your budget allows it, you can buy these 12 items organic and ‘conventional’ produce for everything else. This reduces the cost of organic.

The EWG also includes a Clean Fifteen list, which includes the least sprayed fruits and vegetables.

If like us, organic produce isn’t affordable, you can wash conventional produce to remove much of the pesticide residue.

(You should also wash organic produce as well to remove bacteria and dirt – the method is exactly the same as outlined below).

There’s no way to remove all pesticide residue. While most of the pesticides are on the surface of the produce, some of it is absorbed in.

But you can remove a lot and the remaining amounts will be small compared to the health-giving benefits of eating lots of fruit and vegetables.

Do You Need Commercial Fruit and Veggie Wash?

There are plenty of produce washes on the market. And they’re not cheap. But the easiest and cheapest way to wash produce is in a bowl or sink of water.

“There is little or no difference between tap water rinsing or using a [commercial] fruit and vegetable wash in reducing residues of the nine pesticides studied.” 2

It’s important to note that it’s not the water so much as the friction – the actual rubbing – that removes residual pesticide.

So when washing produce, give them a rub under running water. For hard-skinned vegetables like carrots, you can use a scrubbing brush.

Some produce, like apples, are covered in wax to extend their shelf life. Pesticide residue can get trapped under the wax and water alone does not remove the wax and therefore does not remove the surface residue.

That’s where vinegar comes to the rescue.

Vinegar For The Best Fruit and Veggie Wash

A study conducted by Cook’s Illustrated found plain old kitchen vinegar to be the most effective way to break down the wax coating on produce. 3 4

Vinegar is also very effective for getting produce clean. Vinegar reduces surface bacteria by up to 90% and viruses up to 95%, outperforming commercial produce washes. 5

To clean produce using vinegar, combine 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water in a basin or clean sink and soak produce for up to 20 minutes. Then rinse and rub under tap water.

Yield: 1

How to Wash Fruits and Vegetables to Remove Pesticides

diy fruit and veggie wash

Wash fruits and vegetables cheaply with the effective, natural DIY fruit and veggie wash.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Active Time 2 minutes
Additional Time 2 minutes
Total Time 24 minutes
Difficulty Easy
Estimated Cost <$1

Materials

  • 3 Parts Water
  • 1 Part White Vinegar

Tools

  • Bowl or Sink

Instructions

  1. Wait to wash your produce until just prior to use. Washing and then storing fruit and vegetables will reduce their shelf life.
  2. Soak vegetables in a vinegar solution (1:3 ratio) in a basin or clean sink for up to 20 minutes. For delicate fruit like berries, you can make up the vinegar solution in a spray bottle and give them a spray instead.
  3. Wash delicate fruit and vegetables under running tap water or in a clean bowl of water. For hardier fruits and vegetables give them a rub or for vegetables like carrots, give them a scrub with a brush.
  4. Trim outer leaves of lettuce, cabbage etc. If you like, you can peel and discard the skin, which holds the most residue, although the skin is also where the most nutrients are too.

Did you make this project?

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Washing won’t get rid of all pesticide residue on fruit and vegetables. But this DIY fruit and veggie wash will reduce the pesticide load so you can enjoy healthy fruit and vegetables with peace of mind.

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4 Comments

  1. While I strongly disagree with you on the usefulness of pesticides (I believe they have contributed to global warming because farmers no longer add carbon to the soil), this is a great article. We don’t have access to organic produce through our supermarkets in our rural area. They just don’t sell organics. Therefore when we don’t have fruit from friends or our own trees, we buy conventional sprayed fruit. We’ve been amazed when we soak our apples in vinegar and water. The wax coating becomes visible and the water sometimes gets really discoloured. I hadn’t seen the list for the ‘clean fruits’ so thank you for the information!

    1. Melissa Goodwin says:

      Hi Linda,

      I agree with you that pesticides are bad for the environment.

      But we do enjoy such a luxury of abundant, readily available food (for better or for worse).

      Thanks for your comment.

      1. hi , i think it is very useful and practical.

        the vinegar is it that we usually buy from supermarket, white vinegar ?

        thank you

        1. Melissa Goodwin says:

          Hi Xiaolin,

          Yep, ordinary white vinegar from the supermarket or apple cider vinegar if you prefer.