Help the development of the site, sharing the article with friends!
There is no need to convince anyone that you have to wash apples, pears or plums. However, washing citrus fruits, which we reach for so eagerly, is not a habit - after all, we peel them before eating. However, it is worth knowing that by eating mandarins, oranges, bananas or lemons without washing them first, you run the risk of serious he alth problems. Why do you need to wash citrus and how to do it safely?
Washing citrus- except maybe washing lemons before using them in tea - is not a habit for us. Who of us thoroughly scrubs a mandarin, banana or orange before peeling, who has washed a pomelo or a kiwi?
As it turns out - this is a mistake that we can pay for with our he alth. The consequences of eating unwashed citrus will not appear immediately, but only after several months or even years. And it will be rather difficult to associate them with insufficient hygiene.
Why do you need to wash citrus before eating?
Why is washing citrus so important? The fruits available in our stores are grown mainly on conventional crops - ones that use pesticides and herbicides. Sometimes they travel to us from the end of the world, and during transport, which lasts even several weeks, they must be properly secured.
Their producers use preservatives, polishes and waxes, which are also supposed to make the fruit look more delicious and encourage you to buy it. Before they go to the containers, they are sprayed with a mixture of fungicides and antiparasitic agents, which, if accidentally ingested, can be harmful to humans - highly toxic and potentially carcinogenic.
Fruits can be preserved, among others thiabendazole, which can damage the nervous system, potentially carcinogenic imazalil, and waxes, among others, oxidized polyethylene wax, which, in addition to its carcinogenic effect, may also damage the kidneys and livers. There are many more of these substances, which is why the peel of mandarin, orange, banana, grapefruit or other citrus is the habitat of at least several different chemicals.
Citrus producers and exporters very rarely mention what substances on their labelsthey used to preserve the fruit during transport. A photo of one of these labels along with the product was posted on the Facebook profile of Reading the Labels.
How to wash citruses?
As we read on the SGGW blog, chemicals used to protect citrus fruits during transport remain in the peel and do not reach the flesh - this is the case, for example, in the case of high concentrations of preservatives detected on orange peels, which do not penetrate inside the fruit . However, there is a risk that we will transfer these chemicals into the flesh ourselves. Therefore, each citrus fruit must be thoroughly washed.
How? The authors of the SGGW blog recommend two different ways. Some of these substances are soluble in water, so if you just want to eat the fruit and throw away the peel, just scrub it thoroughly under warm (approx. 60-70 ° C) water with a brush and a small amount of dishwashing liquid (you can also use special fruit and vegetable washing liquids, available at food and organic stores).
After washing the fruit, you only need to wash your hands thoroughly before peeling it, so as not to transfer the impurities to the flesh. However, if we also want to use the peel, because we want to add it to a cake, for example, we need to get rid of substances that do not dissolve in water: it is enough to rinse the fruit in acidic water (e.g. by adding citric acid or vinegar to it. apple), which allows you to get rid of bacteria, and then disturb them in alkaline water (with the addition of baking soda), which will remove the remains of preservatives and pesticides.
Probe