By Mace Dent Johnson, Wirecutter, July 2024
Cleaning your produce is a good idea—especially if you or the people you cook for are pregnant, senior, adolescent, or immunocompromised. At many points in production, packaging, and shipping, bacteria like E. coli and Listeria can attach to produce and grow. You can reduce your risk of foodborne illness and remove unpalatable debris and contaminants from your food with a good wash.
All you need to clean produce at home is a clean basin, running water, and clean cloths. Some extras, such as a salad spinner, a produce brush, and white vinegar can help the process but aren’t necessary.
What you need
A clean sink with running water:
A clean, disinfected sink avoids cross-contamination.
Clean hands:
Dirty hands risk introducing bacteria and other microorganisms.
A basin with a colander in it:
You can use a salad spinner, a produce-cleaning set, or a large bowl and a bowl with holes that holds produce in but lets silt and debris out. Smaller salad spinners will be gentler on berries and other delicate produce.
A clean produce-cleaning brush:
This helps remove dirt from heartier produce like potatoes, carrots, and apples, and it accesses hard to reach nooks and crannies. We recommend the OXO vegetable brush because it is a graspable, effective scrubber that you can disinfect in your dishwasher.
Clean kitchen towels or paper towels:
You’ll need towels to dry the produce.
White vinegar:
Although water is all the CDC, FDA, and USDA recommend using to clean produce, a solution of one part white vinegar and three parts water is effective at reducing bacteria on produce, and in our testing, we didn’t detect any sour taste after a thorough post-soak rinse with fresh tap water. We do not recommend commercial produce washes, dish soap solutions, or chlorine solutions, as they are not proven to be more effective than water or vinegar, are not certified as food safe, and can cause gastrointestinal distress.
How long will this take to clean?
Up to 20 minutes, depending on what kind of produce you are cleaning, how much, and what combination of methods you choose. Rinsing a handful of grapes under running water in a slotted spoon and then patting them dry with a dish towel may take one minute, while separating the leaves off a whole head of napa cabbage, soaking for five minutes in water, rinsing, and spinning dry may take closer to 20 minutes.
Choosing produce
As much as possible, you should select produce that is free of bruises and cuts where bacteria can fester. Cut away damaged areas after washing, then clean your knife. Also, pick produce that is not overly wet. Donald Schaffner, PhD, extension specialist in food science and distinguished professor at Rutgers University, told us, “We know that available moisture may influence growth and survival of microorganisms.”
Produce that is labeled “prewashed” does not need to be washed again and is considered safe to eat. Do not purchase prewashed or precut produce if it is not refrigerated or on ice.
Cooking reduces food-illness risks more effectively than cleaning does. Produce you eat raw—especially lettuce, greens, and bean sprouts—are riskiest and should be selected and cleaned with extra care.
The How
Cleaning produce is more a physical process than a chemical one. The goal is to remove contaminant particles by scrubbing, rinsing thoroughly, and drying with a clean cloth.
Fill a basin with cool water. This could be a mixing bowl, a salad spinner, a produce-cleaning set, or other tools that work for you. Using a colander-like inner bowl with a solid outer bowl allows you to soak and scrub produce and remove it from the dirty water for easier rinsing and drying.
If your produce is layered, remove the outer layer before cleaning. If you are cutting into something, even if you are not eating the exterior, wash the exterior as though you were eating it.
Soaking (optional)
Soaking produce for five to ten minutes in cool water or in a 1:3 vinegar solution helps to loosen grit and dirt. One study showed that soaking before rinsing more effectively removes bacteria than rinsing alone. Some produce, like strawberries, can degrade when soaked, so skip that step for delicate produce.
Scrub
Having a basin of cool water makes it easier to focus your scrubbing, submerging, and sloshing without rushing or wasting water.
If you are cleaning tough produce, use a vegetable brush and scrub gently (let the bristles do the work), targeting grimier areas. Scrub your produce for at least as long as you wash your hands—around 20 seconds.
The stem and blossom ends of produce like apples and tomatoes are particularly hospitable to grime. Take your time to scrub these areas, ideally with a produce brush.
While it is likely not as effective as intensive scrubbing, a 20-second spin in the salad spinner with water, a rinse in the inner basket, and a spin without water can serve as a sufficient wash routine.
Rinse
Lift the inner bowl out of the dirty water and discard the dirty water from the outer bowl (or use it to water your plants). Rinse the produce in the mesh inner under rapidly running water. The more rapidly your water is running, the more effective it will be at removing contaminants. But be careful: The outer skin on mushrooms, for example, can peel back if rinsed under water that is too forceful.
Dry
Gently shake the colander or inner bowl over the sink to remove excess water. As long as you are not washing something very delicate, such as raspberries, and you already have your salad spinner out, you can spin your produce to remove a couple more teaspoons of water. Pat or wipe the produce dry. Wiping, rather than air-drying, provides one last chance to frictionally remove contaminants.
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