It never crossed my mind that one wouldn’t wash fruits and veggies- especially ones I didn’t grow and/or pick.
I will often go berry and cherry picking and that I’ll eat in the field. Yes, I know what’s (probably) on it but there’s just something about eating fresh picked fruit in the field that is too hard to resist.
That being said, I’ve seen how fruit is often picked and how it’s handled on the way to the store… not to mention all the people touching it at the store. No thanks, I’m rinsing.
On the other hand, I’d never use dish soap on fruit. It’s irrational but I’d probably “taste” the soap (in my mind, not in reality) because I’m weird like that.
To be honest, I’ve worried about herbs and roots I’ve grown in my yard having been “grazed” (not grazed upon) by nocturnal creatures, and the soil containing trace elements of whatever has run downslope and settled in to the soil. But, hey, it gets no fresher than that, so I’ve picked with pleasure and placed things on the table.
And, yes, there is a particular delight to picking a berry or other fruit right where it has grown and popping it in the mouth. I have winced at the thought of all that might have landed upon, brushed up against, or let fly upon the fruit though. In a kind of hands-over-the-eyes way though, as I downed it.
Question about the link to the video that was posted toward the beginning of this thread, the one with a food safety person in Maine. It said to soak broccoli for two minutes…nothing about rinsing it or washing it. I always rinse broccoli off. Seems like soaking a fruit or vegetable would allow it to sit in whatever might be on it. Did anyone else watch that video and notice that?
I do think that we tend to worry about germs and bacteria a little more than necessary. I do wash (rinse) all fruits and vegetables that don’t have a peel or skin we don’t eat but we’ve been lucky; our family seems to rarely get sick. I’m sure I’d change in a heartbeat if one of my kids or dh seemed susceptible to illness or had a compromised immune system, etc. but, since we don’t, none of us are all that fastidious when it comes to the types of issues brought up in this thread (laundry, etc). I tend to think of ‘germs’ as good (an overstatement but I hope my point is coming across); we never use antibacterial gel, etc. No judgement on those who take an opposite approach, of course but, thus far, it’s worked for us. I also agree with the person(s) who talked about how much risk we’re willing to live with. Thus far, we’re comfortable living with a certain amount of ‘risk’.
Rainier cherries: reach
Conventional cherries: high match
Raspberries: high match
Blueberries: high match
Peaches: match
Plums: match
Strawberries: match
Apples: no longer the safety they used to be, low match
Most, but not all, vegetables: safety
Bananas: safety
I absolutely agree with you @collage1 that we way, way, way over-sanitize and are way too germaphobic in this country. However, I’d just like to point out that handwashing and sanitizing (and the like) is not just to protect the person doing the washing but it’s also to prevent the transfer of germs to people like me who are immunosuppressed. It’s like how vaccinating is not just to protect yourself but to protect the entire population.
As far as watching videos…ignorance is bliss (defined by Urban Dictionary as “a prevalent saying of the people in North America when confronted by the truth”).
Re: soaking broccoli. If you rinse it, the water will not penetrate the crevasses. Soaking will fill it with water like the Titanic, and the bugs will leave the sinking ship.
Generally I soak the fruit in the vinegar/water solution, then drain. Berries then generally get put in an airtight container in the frig with a coffee filter or paper towel at the bottom to soak up any remaining moisture. Fruits like plumbs or cherry tomatoes are usually left out, exposed to air, in an open serving dish.
If I eat berries right after the soaking, I can taste the vinegar. But for the stuff saved for later, the vinegar dissipates.
There’s never much of smell because the vinegar solution is too dilute and it’s just kept in the bowl used for soaking – so it’s not like when you use vinegar as a cleanser and wipe down a lot of surfaces.
Anyway, it works to delay mold on the fruits/berries. I used to always have to toss uneaten berries after a day or so because the mold grew so quickly, but now they generally stay fresh for about 3 days. (I don’t know if they would stay fresh longer, because generally they are going to be eaten sooner).
Sometimes I buy extra berries and give them the same treatment and then freeze them.
Ime, to freeze rinsed berries, make sure they’re dry, then put them on a flat pan in a single layer. They won’t stick together. Later, you bag them or put them in a container. Works well for me.
That’s not possible with hot yoga-you go into the room in bare feet, and the room is heated to between 96 and 100 degrees. You sweat like a construction worker on the equator at noon in the hot sun for an hour, then you go home completely drenched in sweat.
You’re pretty much guaranteed to pick up a fungus on that floor. If I didn’t feel (and look) so good from hot yoga, I’d never go through the ritual I have to go through to be ok with risking that many pathogens. But like other people have said, life is managing risk.
@Waiting2exhale OMG!!! I love my dogs but super no on whacking them with a spoon OR sharing utensils with them. You must have been so freaked out.
“That’s not possible with hot yoga-you go into the room in bare feet, and the room is heated to between 96 and 100 degrees. You sweat like a construction worker on the equator at noon in the hot sun for an hour, then you go home completely drenched in sweat.”
Are you doing Bikram yoga where it’s in a carpeted room and everyone’s sweat drips into / stays in the carpet? Talk about gross. I do yoga in studios with wood floors that are wiped down in between classes, and never to the sopping level of sweat, which strikes me as a gimmick since whatever water you lose from sweating you’ll gain back once you rehydrate.
But honestly I’ve never fretted about bare feet in locker rooms, yoga studios, etc and I’ve never had a single problem.
I wear flip flops in the locker room. When I’ve done yoga there were wood floors and we stood on our own mats. But I’d never do hot-yoga as I hate sweating.
@Pizzagirl no, the floor is a vinyl that looks like wood. The people that take it easy don’t sweat so much. I’m a major sweater :).
I don’t get on a scale after class; I know that’s not an accurate measure of weight when you’ve sweated out all your water. I do bring a liter of water with me to drink when we’re doing the practice to try and keep up with what I’m sweating out.
In the wintertime it’s the only place I sweat, and I feel like it keeps my skin from turning into parchment. Feels good to be glowy.
Glad to hear! The Bikram studio near me is carpeted, smells terrible and doesn’t allow you to drink water during class, which is a non starter for me. Separately you may be interested in reading Hell-Bent by Benjamin Lorr - I just finished it and it’s a fascinating expose of the man himself. I’m waaay off topic here I know. So back to fruit washing!
D2 fainted a few times doing that hot yoga. I put an end to that immediately. She also did see a cardiologist and her internal med doctor to be on the safe side.
Your liver and kidneys are the organs that clear out toxins. I go slightly bonkers in yoga class when we are doing some twisty pose ( like revolved crescent or prayer twist) and the instructor says that we are “releasing toxins.” We are doing good things for our muscles, bones and joints, but releasing toxins ain’t one of them!
That was the old line: some position squeezes the toxins out of muscles or sweating them out though the skin. Yeah, lots of body-related ideas are Bogus, with a capital B. You do what makes you feel better.
@romanigypsyeyes, your point about not just protecting myself/family from germs but others with more compromised systems is well taken. I had never had a flu shot until a couple years ago. My thought was that I never get the flu and I’d probably need to get it once to push me to get the vaccine. My public health daughter was rather horrified and said, “mom, it’s not just for YOU, it’s for all the people you encounter that may be more susceptible to the flu!” So noted! I now get a flu shot every year!
