How to properly wash apples

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-13 00:26

All apples, unless grown in your own garden, are treated with chemicals to kill insects. Therefore, simply washing them with water is not enough.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts decided to compare three ways to wash apples. First, they treated the fruit with thiabendazole and fosmet, which kill fungi and insects. These products are approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

A day later, one apple was washed with plain water, another with chlorine solution (usually used by fruit suppliers), and the third with a solution of water with 1% baking soda. For each of the three options, two wash intervals were tested: two minutes and eight minutes.

After two minutes, the baking soda removed more pesticides than the water and chlorine solution. She completely peeled off the thiabendazole from the apple peel after 12 minutes, and from the phosmet after 15 minutes. However, by this time, a small amount of pesticides had gotten into the apple.

To minimize the harm from pesticides, wash apples in this mixture: a teaspoon of baking soda in 0.5 liters of water.

Or you can peel them, although this will have to give up the vitamins and fiber it contains.