How To Clean Greens For Dalads To Make Sure No Parasites

A few years ago, I took home a cicada that was hiding in a bunch of curly kale from a grocery store in Harlem. This by autumn, I establish six bugs in a bunch of escarole from the farmers market (some dead, some alive). And over the weekend, I spotted a snail (a live snail!) on a bunch of purple kale at the Park Gradient Food Co-Op.

These are among the reasons that every time I launder my greens, I am grateful I've taken the time—and it tin actually exist just v minutes—to do so. I'1000 not grossed out by the insects and the dirt in my leaves (I like to think information technology's a not bad sign, a welcome reminder of where our food comes from, and a miracle of resilient life), but I am glad that none of it concluded up in my dinner.

Which is why I was surprised to read an article on Epicurious that made a case for not washing produce. It'southward a messy, fourth dimension-consuming hassle, the writer Becky Hughes argued, that creates a bulwark to eating vegetables without even eliminating "all of the subcontract chemicals and the inevitable germs." Her terminal betoken? The anecdotal evidence that she'south still live and well to this day.

Hughes did say if there is "visible dirt on a head of lettuce, or grit in a bunch of parsley, [she]'ll (grudgingly) give it a rinse," just I, for ane, know I've been fooled by clean-looking leaves i too many times. I will never forget the lentil salad I ruined past neglecting to wash the spinach. The dust crunched between my teeth with every bite.

As a laic in washing leaves, whether I'm planning to cook them or eat them raw, I wanted to make sure I wasn't cuckoo. Greens can be in demand of a rinse even if they look totally make clean, right? I soaked cilantro, chard, and red foliage lettuce—all of which looked adequately clean to begin with—in cold water, then carefully removed the leaves and photographed the remaining grime that settled on the lesser of the bowl.

Here's a little photograph bear witness that my salad spinner is not for nil:

Cilantro

Doesn't look so dirty! — Doesn't await and then dirty!

Rainbow chard

This chard looked very clean prior to its rinse-off.

But a-ha! Lots of little dirt specks. — Simply a-ha! Lots of little dirt specks.

Cherry-red leaf lettuce

And yes, it did need it. — And yeah, information technology did need it.

The initial water soak eliminated virtually of the larger specks of dirt—and once I gave the greens a spin in the salad spinner, I saw that the water that had nerveless in the leaves was a dark-brown shade I would not readily consume.

I don't hateful to fearmonger, or to even suggest that this corporeality of dust and dirt will harm you. I'm merely saying that there's a reason to wash your leafy greens (even if you're going to cook them), and that the few minutes it takes to remove the grime might get y'all a meliorate gustation and texture, also.

Equally far as kitchen tools get, I consider the salad spinner an essential one (and hey, did you know y'all can too use information technology to dry delicate clothing items?)—only you lot can ever but use a bowl of water and a tea towel.

We originally shared this story in July 2022, but we always welcome a reminder to wash our greens. Exercise you wash leafy greens? What nigh other produce? Tell united states of america in the comments below.