How to Wash Fruits with Baking Soda

In this article I will show you how to wash fruits with baking soda. Washing fruits and vegetables before eating them is very important for your health. Fruits, even though grown in your homes, can contain soil particles or bacteria settled in them. While washing fruits with water is a common practice that most of us follow, it is a good idea to use baking soda or baking soda & vinegar to get rid of the dust particles on fruits and be absolutely sure that you are not compromising on your health.

Why should you use baking soda to clean fruits thoroughly? How to use baking soda to get its maximum possible benefits for cleaning fruits? Keep reading to know the answers to these questions in the following sections.

How do baking soda and vinegar help in washing fruits?

Baking soda helps to remove pesticides quickly and effectively from the peels of fruits. When mixed with water, it makes for a powerful cleaning solution.  Its naturally decomposing properties help to get rid of the pesticides easily. Thanks to its abrasive properties, you can scrub off the dirt and dust particles from the peels of the fruits easily, after you have soaked them in the baking soda solution for about 15 minutes.

Vinegar also works effectively in getting rid of the pesticides and bacteria accumulated in the peels of fruits. However, when you use vinegar for cleaning you have to remember two important points. Firstly, you should not soak the fruits for too long when you use vinegar. Secondly, while scrubbing off the residues manually, you have to be extra cautious, as even a slight residue of vinegar can make the fruits taste bitter.

Here are the simple methods you can follow to wash fruits using baking soda and a mixture of baking soda and vinegar to wash the fruits as thoroughly as possible.

Using only baking soda

What do you need?

• A bowl
• Cold Water
• Baking Soda
• Strainer
• Soft-bristled toothbrush
• Dry cloth or paper towel

Process

• Clean your hands thoroughly with warm water. It is better if you use soap or a hand wash for this purpose. Spend at least 20 seconds in this process. This way, you can be sure that your hands are free from bacteria and germs before handling the fruits.
• Take a huge bowl and fill 2/3^rd of it with cool water. Tap water will do. Usually, a big bowl is more than enough to clean fruits. However, if you have a very large quantity of fruits to clean, you can use your kitchen sink for this purpose.
• Add a small quantity of baking soda into this bowl or sink of cool water. Ensure that you use only about 6 grams of baking soda for every 500ml of water in the bowl. Mix the contents well with a ladle or spoon. The baking soda should completely dissolve in water.
• Drop the fruits into the bowl, and let them soak in the baking soda solution for about 10 to 15 minutes. Please remember to stir the fruits once every 2 or 3 minutes, so that all the fruits are cleaned the right way and uniformly.
• After 15 minutes, take out the fruits from the bowl and scrub them manually to get rid of the dirt and mud settled on them. Use your fingers to scrub off the dirt on soft fruits like grapes. However, for sturdy fruits like apples, you can use a soft-bristled toothbrush to get rid of the dirt.
• After manually getting rid of the dirt on fruits, transfer them to a strainer or a colander. Show the strainer under cool, running water for about 2 minutes to get rid of the baking soda residues completely from their surface areas.
• Please a clean and dry towel on your kitchen counter, and transfer the fruits from the strainer to the towel. You can place another clean towel on top of these fruits to allow them to dry.
• Let the fruits air-dry thoroughly before you use them. You can also use a towel to wipe each fruit individually to dry them faster, if you require.
• If you don’t plan to use them immediately, store them away safely in airtight containers. Don’t forget to keep these containers in the fridge at a safe distance from other perishable items like meat and seafood.

Using baking soda and vinegar

What do you need?

• Bowl
• Cold Water
• Baking Soda
• White Vinegar
• Spoon
• Strainer
• Dry Cloth or paper towel

Process

• The process for washing baking soda and vinegar is almost the same as the steps mentioned above.
• In a bowl or kitchen sink, mix cool tap water and baking soda in the same proportion that we have mentioned in the above section.
• However, the only difference in this method is that you have to add 1 cup of vinegar to this solution before soaking the fruits. You can use apple cider vinegar or white vinegar for this purpose.
• All the other steps that involve soaking the fruits for 15 minutes in this solution, straining the solution and allowing the fruits to dry are exactly the same as the ones that we already explained in the above section.

Additional Tips and Advice

• Choose a bowl that is big enough to hold all that you have soaked. This way, you can be sure about cleaning all the fruits evenly.
• For very soft fruits like tomatoes and grapes, it is enough to soak them only in water. You can wash these in a separate bowl filled only with cool, tap water. You need not soak them in the baking soda solution.
• Always soak whole fruits only in the bowl. Never cut them before soaking them in the baking soda solution, as this encourages bacteria to settle inside the fruits.
• For soft fruits like grapes, you can still use baking soda for a thorough cleaning routine. However, instead of soaking them in baking soda and water, you can sprinkle some baking soda directly on the fruits. After scrubbing for two minutes, clean the baking soda by showing the fruits under running water.