I asked my husband if he would describe how he checks various vegetables so I could share the details with you since I’ve been asked more than once how I check different vegetables that I mention using. This afternoon he emailed me the following link and suggested that it would be helpful for my blog readers:
http://www.kashrut.com/consumer/vegetables/#WASHING
I’m glad he sent me this, since I prefer not to make halachic suggestions – I’d rather people check with their rabbis for themselves. (We follow the Star K guidelines that are linked on the page above.) Hopefully this will answer those questions about cauliflower, broccoli, green leafy vegetables, and anything else you may have wondered about but not asked!
Avivah
Thank you for this; very helpful!
I’m so glad!
The Star-K guide is very helpful, thanks!
One thing they don’t mention, but I’ve found helpful, is to soak greens in a sink full of water with a splash of vinegar added. This seems to kill the bugs and cause them to float away. A squirt of dish detergent also works and is especially effective for aphids. But be sure to lift the greens out of the water, rather than drain the sink, or the bugs will collect back onto the greens again.
I’m glad you found it helpful!
Soaking vegetables in vinegar is also good for stripping away the pesticides – I recommended this to someone in the supermarket a couple of weeks ago. I’ve seen it recommended to use specifically apple cider vinegar for that, but white vinegar would probably work just as well.
That’s interesting about the dishsoap, since it’s also an ingredient in fighting garden bugs in homemade insect plant repellant. I guess it works just as well in both applications.
The soap removes the fats from the insect’s cuticle, killing the insect. (It dries out inside.) It also seems to interfere with the insect’s ability to stick onto leaves.
Apple cider vinegar and other vinegars are mainly acetic acid and water, so they should do the same things. Apple cider vinegar tastes very nice, but it’s more expensive. I use just gallon-jug, store brand white vinegar for washing (including the rinse cycle when washing diapers).
Thanks, Jennifer! That’s very interesting about why the dishsoap works. Since it’s a waste to use the more expensive vinegar if the cheaper one will do the same thing, I appreciate you confirming that white vinegar will do just as good a job as acv.
BTW, those gallon jugs that vinegar comes in are HDPE plastic (no BPA), so wehn it’s empty, you can rinse it out and use it for storing drinking water (emergency supply in the basement). The bottle hasn’t held anything toxic (like bleach), and it won’t grow bacteria (like the residue in a milk jug might).
Just an observation: I notice when I use dishsoap to wash/check my leafy vegetables, if I am not prompt in getting to them (can you believe that!?!), the soap seems to break down the cellular layers in the leafy veggies and makes them rot faster. When I use salt/vinegar, it doesn’t happen. In fact, with salt, the vegetables seem to be perkier…