Lettuce Be Honest
August 21, 2010 7:57 PM Subscribe
Do you always wash lettuce? Have you ever just torn a head of Iceberg open and used it? Or do you always wash it?
I use a lot of Iceberg lettuce. And I usually don't wash it if I'm making a sandwich. I bang it on the table to loosen the root and pull it out. Then I cut it in half. I slice off what I need. Then I put it in a ziplock bag with a few paper towels to soak up excess moisture. It lasts a long time like that. Am I doing a stupid thing by eating it without washing it first?
I use a lot of Iceberg lettuce. And I usually don't wash it if I'm making a sandwich. I bang it on the table to loosen the root and pull it out. Then I cut it in half. I slice off what I need. Then I put it in a ziplock bag with a few paper towels to soak up excess moisture. It lasts a long time like that. Am I doing a stupid thing by eating it without washing it first?
Wait, you're supposed to wash lettuce?!
posted by nomadicink at 8:05 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by nomadicink at 8:05 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Definitely wash. Even if it's organic, a dog might have pooped on it, someone might have coughed a flu into it, or a farmer might have spilled tractor gasoline on it.
posted by threeants at 8:05 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by threeants at 8:05 PM on August 21, 2010
I wouldn't say you're doing a stupid thing. I do this all the time, in fact I don't think I've ever washed an iceberg lettuce ever. Romaine I do but that's just cause there's often some dirt on the root ends. As for pesticides, I hardly believe that a simple rinse in cool water would get them all off, and washing in hot water will wilt your lettuce. I'm still ticking so I'll keep up with my current course of action. I don't even tear it open, I discard the first few leaves (usually they are a bit wilty at the ends, but also a good idea if you are indeed concerned about pesticides or coughs etc) and work away at the head leaf-by-leaf as my needs require.
posted by Meagan at 8:07 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by Meagan at 8:07 PM on August 21, 2010
Always. I even wash melons with soap before I cut them. (Freakish? Perhaps, but then again, I rarely get sick. It's a small price to pay.)
posted by LuckySeven~ at 8:10 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by LuckySeven~ at 8:10 PM on August 21, 2010
I eat a lot of lettuce. I always wash it first. I don't know if you are stupid.
posted by shino-boy at 8:10 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by shino-boy at 8:10 PM on August 21, 2010
Even when I grow it and know exactly what's been on it, I still wash it well. Bugs-n-things can get inside the heads, and so can dirt, and I just don't want to eat that.
posted by galadriel at 8:11 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by galadriel at 8:11 PM on August 21, 2010
I pull off the outer layer of leaves and eat away.
posted by cjorgensen at 8:14 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by cjorgensen at 8:14 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Seriously, I've never washed lettuce. Kale, collard greens, brussels sprouts, other veggies that aren't wrapped in plastic sure, but never lettuce.
I am astonished that people actually do this. If you wash lettuce then drops of water might get on the sandwich, producing soggy bread and how disgusting is that?
posted by nomadicink at 8:20 PM on August 21, 2010
I am astonished that people actually do this. If you wash lettuce then drops of water might get on the sandwich, producing soggy bread and how disgusting is that?
posted by nomadicink at 8:20 PM on August 21, 2010
I always wash lettuce. Almost biting down on one bug on your garden-grown lettuce may be regarded as a misfortune; almost biting down on a second looks like carelessness.
posted by verbyournouns at 8:24 PM on August 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by verbyournouns at 8:24 PM on August 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
I am unable to eat lettuce that I haven't washed nor could I serve it. I was taught all the reasons why that you've already read. There's a vegetable wash sold at some grocers and people use it but I never have. We were also taught to spin it dry and pat it dry with paper towels. I suspect we all do pretty much what our parents did.
posted by Anitanola at 8:30 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by Anitanola at 8:30 PM on August 21, 2010
I wash fruit and vegetables I eat, but I often wonder whether this really does any good. Does holding fruit under running water for 5 seconds really wash off pesticides? Or Ebola, or whatever? If you knew that some fruit you were about to eat had cow poop residue on it, would you even eat it, no matter how much you washed it?
Finally, have there been studies that analyze the toxicity, cleanliness, residue, and so on, before and after lettuce has been washed?
posted by Philemon at 8:33 PM on August 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
Finally, have there been studies that analyze the toxicity, cleanliness, residue, and so on, before and after lettuce has been washed?
posted by Philemon at 8:33 PM on August 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
I always wash lettuce, and then dry it in a salad spinner. I wash all the produce I get from the grocery store, even the stuff that's "prewashed" in plastic bags. (Even oranges and bananas.) But I don't know if you are stupid; it may be that I'm just indulging in security theater.
posted by shamash at 8:33 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by shamash at 8:33 PM on August 21, 2010
Pretty much all vegetables should be washed, from what I gather. It's a hassle, but just use a colander and pat it down with a paper towel. I've heard even "pre-washed" packaged vegetables should be rinsed, too. I'm not sure what they say about fruits with peels and rinds, but I wouldn't be surprised if they recommended that some kinds be washed also.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 8:34 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 8:34 PM on August 21, 2010
You know in the US how a few years back they started the lettuce and greens already picked, cut, and packaged nicely in plastic and it says that it has been prewashed and directly ready to eat? Well I remember seeing/reading a study done where they tested it and in fact it was totally not edible as it still had all kinds of crap on it (dirt, manure, pesticides, anything). So end story is to ALWAYS wash it; you never know how it is handled throughout the whole food processing system.
It sounds paranoid but you never know with these mass random salmonella outbreaks you see in the news.
posted by peachtree at 8:37 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
It sounds paranoid but you never know with these mass random salmonella outbreaks you see in the news.
posted by peachtree at 8:37 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Sooo gross! What gets me more than the dirt is thinking of all the hands that have stroked that head of lettuce....perhaps dropping it on the floor in doing so. And once I found a caterpillar in my lettuce. Had I not bothered to rinse I would have eaten that little guy....please rinse....I wash all my produce and then I spin my greens in a salad spinner....not washing is not cute
posted by madmamasmith at 8:40 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by madmamasmith at 8:40 PM on August 21, 2010
I always wash it because there are so often mud and bugs hanging around in crevices. The most fun way to wash an iceberg, if you're wondering, is to bang the stem end very hard on the counter which will release it entirely with no cutting, take the stem out, turn it over and run water inside (a head of lettuce holds a lot of water) and then turn it back over to drain.
I don't know if you're stupid or not, but it does seem like most outbreaks of hepatitis I've heard about come from raw vegetables. So an unwashed lettuce gives you a tiny, tiny, tiny chance of getting quite sick, and a washed one gives you a slightly tinier one.
Oh, and yeah, if it matters: when I was a produce clerk, we'd pick stuff up from the floor all the time, give it a quick brush-off, and put it back to sell. Some of us were more conscientious and would give dropped things a quick spray-down with water first. Whether or not your produce clerks are messing with your lettuce out of its package depends on whether they trim it in-store or not.
posted by frobozz at 8:44 PM on August 21, 2010
I don't know if you're stupid or not, but it does seem like most outbreaks of hepatitis I've heard about come from raw vegetables. So an unwashed lettuce gives you a tiny, tiny, tiny chance of getting quite sick, and a washed one gives you a slightly tinier one.
Oh, and yeah, if it matters: when I was a produce clerk, we'd pick stuff up from the floor all the time, give it a quick brush-off, and put it back to sell. Some of us were more conscientious and would give dropped things a quick spray-down with water first. Whether or not your produce clerks are messing with your lettuce out of its package depends on whether they trim it in-store or not.
posted by frobozz at 8:44 PM on August 21, 2010
Years ago I had a friend who worked as a lab technician. In one of the labs he worked in, they did some sort of study/experiment with spinach. The spinach needed to be clean for this, and my friend was the spinach washer. He showed me exactly how to wash spinach until it was truly clean - it's a lot of washing. A simple rinse won't do it, you need to soak them, agitate them, massage them and rinse them several times. If you're not willing to do that to your lettuce, then I don't think it matters if you rinse it or not.
posted by The Light Fantastic at 8:48 PM on August 21, 2010 [11 favorites]
posted by The Light Fantastic at 8:48 PM on August 21, 2010 [11 favorites]
Most of our lettuce comes from California. Most of it is harvested by itinerant workers (aka Mexicans). There are portapotties in the fields, but no running water with which to wash their hands before they return to the fields to continue harvesting the lettuce.
So I always wash it. And I always discard the outer couple of layers.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:50 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
So I always wash it. And I always discard the outer couple of layers.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 8:50 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
I rarely wash produce unless it has actual dirt or crud on it. I eat a ton of fruit and vegetables and haven't gotten sick or eaten any visible bugs yet. I mean, I probably have eaten bugs, but if I don't see them, they don't exist.
Please note that I'm not being all Internet Tough Guy, I'm just incredibly lazy. YMMV.
posted by howrobotsaremade at 8:51 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Please note that I'm not being all Internet Tough Guy, I'm just incredibly lazy. YMMV.
posted by howrobotsaremade at 8:51 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
One issue with produce like that is the possibility of E. coli. You may remember this recent E. coli scare regarding lettuce. I don't know how that turned out, but you've likely heard of other E. coli outbreaks via produce. A friend of mine studied the issue in grad school and said many kinds of produce get exposed to E. coli when airborne pulverized manure (I guess used as fertilizer) settles on it. It can even be things like apples up in trees.
Whether rinsing lettuce or anything else briefly is as effective as it needs to be to get E. coli, pesticides, and whatever else off of it, I don't know. But it can't hurt. I've always washed lettuce by running it under the faucet and then laying it out over a towel or paper towels and then rolling it up and kind of patting it to absorb.
As far as "pre-washed", I don't trust that since pre-washed stuff has also been implicated in some of the outbreaks and people trying to sell you something will tell you what you want to hear while also doing whatever they have to do to minimize costs.
I'm interested in whether the various contaminants would only affect the outer layers of a head of lettuce. Like, if I were to peel off just the top couple of layers or so from an iceberg lettuce, would the stuff underneath be OK? Or can the wee particles infiltrate and navigate the many compressed folds and layers? I've always washed it no matter what layer it is, but maybe that's overkill. Still, as above, couldn't hurt.
posted by Askr at 8:51 PM on August 21, 2010
Whether rinsing lettuce or anything else briefly is as effective as it needs to be to get E. coli, pesticides, and whatever else off of it, I don't know. But it can't hurt. I've always washed lettuce by running it under the faucet and then laying it out over a towel or paper towels and then rolling it up and kind of patting it to absorb.
As far as "pre-washed", I don't trust that since pre-washed stuff has also been implicated in some of the outbreaks and people trying to sell you something will tell you what you want to hear while also doing whatever they have to do to minimize costs.
I'm interested in whether the various contaminants would only affect the outer layers of a head of lettuce. Like, if I were to peel off just the top couple of layers or so from an iceberg lettuce, would the stuff underneath be OK? Or can the wee particles infiltrate and navigate the many compressed folds and layers? I've always washed it no matter what layer it is, but maybe that's overkill. Still, as above, couldn't hurt.
posted by Askr at 8:51 PM on August 21, 2010
When I get home from the grocery store, I wash my lettuce, spin it in my salad spinner, and stick it in a zip-lock baggie. That way it's already washed when I'm feeling lazy and want a salad or a sammich.
posted by craichead at 8:58 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by craichead at 8:58 PM on August 21, 2010
Iceberg lettuce, like cabbage, I pull off the top couple leaves (the ones that are likely to have been coughed/slimed on) and then eat away. You can go crazy with the cleaning stuff, and if I have to do that, more than likely, especially with a small child that makes preparing meals a time crunch most of the time anyways, is just going to make me not eat the veggie in question.
posted by katers890 at 9:02 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by katers890 at 9:02 PM on August 21, 2010
The idea that briefly rinsing lettuce will get rid of serious bacteria is just something to make people feel better. I wash it very briefly just in case there are some big particles of whatever stuck to it but that's basically all that is good for.
The only really effective way to prevent bacterial food borne illness in our produces is safe farming and packaging practice. The focus on washing it at the consumer level is shifting attention away from the problem.
posted by Justinian at 9:10 PM on August 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
The only really effective way to prevent bacterial food borne illness in our produces is safe farming and packaging practice. The focus on washing it at the consumer level is shifting attention away from the problem.
posted by Justinian at 9:10 PM on August 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
I always wash lettuce, and spin it dry in a salad spinner. I thought everybody did this, to get rid of dirt, bugs, and other gross contamination (as well as helping reduce pesticide levels and washing away at least some surface bacteria).
I had the chance to watch one of those "open kitchen" restaurants prep their lettuce. Nope, they didn't wash it. I don't order salads anymore.
posted by Dimpy at 9:21 PM on August 21, 2010
I had the chance to watch one of those "open kitchen" restaurants prep their lettuce. Nope, they didn't wash it. I don't order salads anymore.
posted by Dimpy at 9:21 PM on August 21, 2010
I was gonna ask this question, too! Because I am lazy, I never wash my greens or veggies unless they are visibly dirty with dirt. I too doubt that a quick rinse with water will remove any pesticides or germs I can't see, but I would love to know for sure.
posted by gnutron at 9:21 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by gnutron at 9:21 PM on August 21, 2010
I always wash lettuce, and spin it dry in a salad spinner.
That level of effort is amazing.
posted by nomadicink at 9:25 PM on August 21, 2010
That level of effort is amazing.
posted by nomadicink at 9:25 PM on August 21, 2010
The main reason to wash lettuce is e.coli. Poop gets on lettuce. Important to know. Sure, you can strip off the outer leaves and cross your fingers. A lot of people do; it's your choice, your risk. But don't forget: e. coli gets onto lettuce.
posted by Miko at 9:27 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Miko at 9:27 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Not stupid, I do not wash.
For those who wash, please...in order for washing to be effective against bacteria/etc you'd have to put it under boiling water for quite some time - and what about bacteria that's not just contained on the outside, but the inside?
If you are not washing the lettuce for several minutes in extremely hot water then you are just creating an imaginary layer of safety.
posted by Sonic_Molson at 9:27 PM on August 21, 2010
For those who wash, please...in order for washing to be effective against bacteria/etc you'd have to put it under boiling water for quite some time - and what about bacteria that's not just contained on the outside, but the inside?
If you are not washing the lettuce for several minutes in extremely hot water then you are just creating an imaginary layer of safety.
posted by Sonic_Molson at 9:27 PM on August 21, 2010
This article says washing really doesn't do much in terms of actually reducing risk.
posted by nomadicink at 9:28 PM on August 21, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by nomadicink at 9:28 PM on August 21, 2010 [3 favorites]
Most of our lettuce comes from California. Most of it is harvested by itinerant workers (aka Mexicans). There are portapotties in the fields, but no running water with which to wash their hands before they return to the fields to continue harvesting the lettuce.
What you want to worry more about are critters that run around in the fields - one of the recent outbreaks of E. coli in California produce (spinach, maybe?) was tied to wild boar feces.
I wash the lettuce we get from our local farm box delivery thing. Always. Soak/agitate in water, drain, soak/agitate again, then spin dry.
posted by rtha at 9:30 PM on August 21, 2010
What you want to worry more about are critters that run around in the fields - one of the recent outbreaks of E. coli in California produce (spinach, maybe?) was tied to wild boar feces.
I wash the lettuce we get from our local farm box delivery thing. Always. Soak/agitate in water, drain, soak/agitate again, then spin dry.
posted by rtha at 9:30 PM on August 21, 2010
NPR and Chowhound have more to say. Rinsing does seem to be common and at least doesn't hurt anything.
posted by nomadicink at 9:31 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by nomadicink at 9:31 PM on August 21, 2010
You're supposed to wash lettuce.
That being said, I don't.
posted by srrh at 9:35 PM on August 21, 2010
That being said, I don't.
posted by srrh at 9:35 PM on August 21, 2010
Never washed it, or any other fruit or vegetable for that matter - unless it's a gritty bunch of cilantro/coriander.
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:40 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by obiwanwasabi at 9:40 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm concerned that things boil over into xenophobia when "Mexicans" and unhygeniec habits are offered as the explanation for e. coli poisioning in produce. Really, it's industrial farming practices that allow e. coli to proliferate, no matter who is doing the harvesting. Two major causes are contaminated irrigation water (often contaminated by runoff from industrial animal operations) and contaminated manure used to fertilize. Both the water and manure vectors are widespread, far larger in scale than the unwashed hands of some harvesters.
posted by Miko at 9:40 PM on August 21, 2010 [12 favorites]
posted by Miko at 9:40 PM on August 21, 2010 [12 favorites]
If Sir Splunge treats all his lettuces like that, he doesn't deserve to have any!
But if it's only the iceberg, it's cool.
I wash all the lettuce around here (my mate the salad fanatic buys five different kinds of organic lettuce a week from farmer's markets during summer) and iceberg is one of the only varieties (of about ten total) which doesn't secrete a soapy/waxy film onto its leaves.
Most of those films have a bitter taste by my direct experience.
Killerplants.com asserts that all commonly eaten varieties of lettuce are descended from Romaine, by the way.
posted by jamjam at 9:48 PM on August 21, 2010
But if it's only the iceberg, it's cool.
I wash all the lettuce around here (my mate the salad fanatic buys five different kinds of organic lettuce a week from farmer's markets during summer) and iceberg is one of the only varieties (of about ten total) which doesn't secrete a soapy/waxy film onto its leaves.
Most of those films have a bitter taste by my direct experience.
Killerplants.com asserts that all commonly eaten varieties of lettuce are descended from Romaine, by the way.
posted by jamjam at 9:48 PM on August 21, 2010
And here's an article that says you ought to. I get the impression these things are pretty much being argued on basic principles and in vitro type analysis, not by say broad epidemiological studies of sickness across patterns of lettuce washing behavior, but who knows. I know that cold water is a great solvent and if it removes some tiny percentage of microbes, pesticides, cockroach urine, I don't care what, I'll take it, if you'd rather be sure of getting the full 100 percent of whatever is on there by all means, save yourself the two minutes. Just let me know before I eat salad in your house.
posted by nanojath at 9:49 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by nanojath at 9:49 PM on August 21, 2010
For iceberg lettuce I just peel the first (and sometimes second) layers off, assuming that most of the pesticides etc. will have settled on those. If it's leaf lettuce, Romaine or butter I'll usually (but not always) wash it.
There is a special produce soap in a spray pump that you can get for fruits and vegetables; it rinses off easily and doesn't have a nasty-tasting residue. I got a sample of it once and it worked well; I'm just too cheap/lazy to buy it all the time.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:53 PM on August 21, 2010
There is a special produce soap in a spray pump that you can get for fruits and vegetables; it rinses off easily and doesn't have a nasty-tasting residue. I got a sample of it once and it worked well; I'm just too cheap/lazy to buy it all the time.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 9:53 PM on August 21, 2010
I always wash fresh vegetables. And not because of Mexicans, but anyone and anything in the fields, transporting business, or store could be dropping and peeing and have god knows what on their hands. Maybe rinsing and cleaning under cold water doesn't do that much, but it sure couldn't hurt.
posted by wv kay in ga at 9:54 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by wv kay in ga at 9:54 PM on August 21, 2010
BTW, the best reason for using a soap in situations like this is that water alone often can't dislodge the bits from the plant surface. It's soap's surfactant properties that make washing so effective. Think of the dirt left in your fingerprint ridges if you just quickly rinse your hands. Plant surfaces have a lot of ridges too. Surfactants do the 'lifting' to get things out of those ridges.
Slight Derail: I spent over thirty years on the planet before learning the mechanism of how soap works on surfaces. If surfactants had been taught in High School Science class I'm sure peoples' washing habits would be better. Now my lazy habits have the inertia of decades and it's harder for me to shape up.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 10:06 PM on August 21, 2010
Slight Derail: I spent over thirty years on the planet before learning the mechanism of how soap works on surfaces. If surfactants had been taught in High School Science class I'm sure peoples' washing habits would be better. Now my lazy habits have the inertia of decades and it's harder for me to shape up.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 10:06 PM on August 21, 2010
Washing lettuce is kind of a no-brainer. Even if the item is organic, there are still multiple ways it could have picked up contaminants that you'd probably want washed off during harvest, handling, and transport.
Also, you don't need to sanitize your vegetables with boiling water. That's ridiculous. We usually add a capful of white vinegar to a large bowl of water and then agitate and rinsed our vegetables, sliced or uncut, depending, in it. Vinegar is a natural antiseptic. Simply rinse the vegetables again to remove the vinegar smell/taste. You can rinse raw poultry in this same kind of vinegar-water mix to remove the smell.
Given the way that food production has evolved lately, it's better safe than sorry. You don't want to one day find yourself one of the victims of an e. coli or other food-borne illness. Sure rinsing out your vegetables takes some extra work. Food prep takes work. Staying healthy takes work. That's all there is too it.
posted by joyeuxamelie at 10:11 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Also, you don't need to sanitize your vegetables with boiling water. That's ridiculous. We usually add a capful of white vinegar to a large bowl of water and then agitate and rinsed our vegetables, sliced or uncut, depending, in it. Vinegar is a natural antiseptic. Simply rinse the vegetables again to remove the vinegar smell/taste. You can rinse raw poultry in this same kind of vinegar-water mix to remove the smell.
Given the way that food production has evolved lately, it's better safe than sorry. You don't want to one day find yourself one of the victims of an e. coli or other food-borne illness. Sure rinsing out your vegetables takes some extra work. Food prep takes work. Staying healthy takes work. That's all there is too it.
posted by joyeuxamelie at 10:11 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
ugh... That's all there is *to* it.
posted by joyeuxamelie at 10:11 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by joyeuxamelie at 10:11 PM on August 21, 2010
"Recycled" wastewater is becoming widely used in agricultural production. E. coli is the usual punching bag, but here's another bad bug: ascariasis (gross pics). If you Google around (here is a starter) you'll find that this is a problem, even in emerging economies such as Mexico (here is a PPT for that country). This is actually a really serious problem in some areas... there is a study somewhere from Sanliurfa, Turkey, which has had a very high incidence of worm infection and has been traced back to vegetables in the fields, wastewater use, and inadequate washing. We're not immune to it here in the US, either... even if the irrigation is from well water, some posters above have outlined the latrine issues with field workers, and the store is buying from the cheapest supplier. Personally I'm more concerned with pesticide residues, but I'm just tossing that out there.
posted by crapmatic at 10:36 PM on August 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by crapmatic at 10:36 PM on August 21, 2010 [2 favorites]
(oh yeah, keep in mind the truck used to transport those veggies may have been used to transport cattle -- imagine the possibilities there.)
posted by crapmatic at 10:38 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by crapmatic at 10:38 PM on August 21, 2010
Wow I never thought to wash lettuce because people touch it, it's all about at least getting some of the chemicals off of it. My dad does a lot of work with pollution related issues and would always yell at me if I ever tried to eat a strawberry without washing it. I can recover from the stomach flu, it's the chemicals that concern me, however I acknowledge that washing is of only limited use, but it's something.
posted by whoaali at 10:38 PM on August 21, 2010
posted by whoaali at 10:38 PM on August 21, 2010
I hardly wash any fruits and veggies unless I see dirt. I've got a pretty healthy immune system. I think it comes from not being afraid of a little dirt growing up; I don't think anyone in my family had even heard of antibacterial soap until I was an adult. I figure anything I eat now (out of sheer laziness, I will admit) is only helping keep my immune system up to snuff and on its toes. If I can't see it, it doesn't bother me.
posted by cgg at 11:07 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by cgg at 11:07 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
I usually buy my lettuce from a farmers market. There's almost always dirt in it.
Hence, it gets washed. If you don't like soggy bread, dry it out with a salad spinner.
posted by schmod at 11:12 PM on August 21, 2010
Hence, it gets washed. If you don't like soggy bread, dry it out with a salad spinner.
posted by schmod at 11:12 PM on August 21, 2010
I wash it leaf by leaf, as I use it. Then I pat it dry with a tea towel, or whatever non-Aussies call the cloth they use to dry dishes.
Why? Because I'm the daughter of a truck driver. I've seen the trailers of trucks that transport food, and I've heard some horror stories. Ergo, I wash everything that doesn't need to be peeled.
(And then I wrap the remainder of the lettuce tightly in aluminium foil, and it lasts, oh, forever. Or until the sole lettuce eater has finished the lot. Best kitchen hint I ever learned.)
posted by malibustacey9999 at 11:49 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Why? Because I'm the daughter of a truck driver. I've seen the trailers of trucks that transport food, and I've heard some horror stories. Ergo, I wash everything that doesn't need to be peeled.
(And then I wrap the remainder of the lettuce tightly in aluminium foil, and it lasts, oh, forever. Or until the sole lettuce eater has finished the lot. Best kitchen hint I ever learned.)
posted by malibustacey9999 at 11:49 PM on August 21, 2010 [1 favorite]
Huh. I thought washing greens was as common as...washing dishes. When I'm rinsing/spinning our greens I'm not thinking about bacteria, I'm thinking I don't want that GRITTY feeling of dirt in between my teeth or to see half-eaten bugs in my salad.
Pull apart a head of lettuce, rinse and dry it in the salad spinner or a towel. Then you've got clean leaves to use as you please.
posted by artdrectr at 12:30 AM on August 22, 2010
Pull apart a head of lettuce, rinse and dry it in the salad spinner or a towel. Then you've got clean leaves to use as you please.
posted by artdrectr at 12:30 AM on August 22, 2010
Here's a little experiment you can do. The next time you get a head of lettuce, wash it in a bowl of water.
Remove the lettuce (leaving the water in the bowl), dry the lettuce, and eat it.
Now look at the water you left in the bowl. Ask yourself, "Would I drink that water?" I tend to say no.
posted by IvyMike at 1:20 AM on August 22, 2010 [7 favorites]
Remove the lettuce (leaving the water in the bowl), dry the lettuce, and eat it.
Now look at the water you left in the bowl. Ask yourself, "Would I drink that water?" I tend to say no.
posted by IvyMike at 1:20 AM on August 22, 2010 [7 favorites]
There is another bonus to washing lettuce. If the lettuce has been in the fridge for a few days and is looking limp, soaking it in water for a few minutes can re-crisp it a bit, since the leaves will absorb water.
posted by IvyMike at 1:22 AM on August 22, 2010
posted by IvyMike at 1:22 AM on August 22, 2010
Maybe a token rinse, unless it's bagged or pre-washed (you really think restaurants re-wash pre-washed greens for your salad?)
posted by itheearl at 1:27 AM on August 22, 2010
posted by itheearl at 1:27 AM on August 22, 2010
No I don't. Unless it's earthy or visibly dirty in any other way.
posted by oxit at 1:49 AM on August 22, 2010
posted by oxit at 1:49 AM on August 22, 2010
Yes, I wash my lettuce, how much depends on a couple of factors. Here in Brazil I generally buy hydroponically-grown lettuce because the regular stuff is SO dirty. We're talking big old grains of sand. With a regular head of lettuce I'll rinse all the individual leaves, both sides. If I'm not feeling too lazy, I'll give it a soak in one of those veggie soaks (or some water with vinegar). I especially do this if I've got visitors from North America who are usually craving salad because people have drilled it into their heads that they shouldn't eat lettuce here. They get a squeaky clean salad. No spinner (mostly because I don't want to give up that storage space!) but I set it in a colander and then pat it dry with paper towels.
When I'm in the U.S., I tend to just go for the bagged stuff and eat it as is. Because I like to live dangerously. If I'm preparing iceberg, I remove the core (by smashing it on the counter) and then fill the hole with water. Dunno if it works but that's just the way I do it (which is not, fwiw, the way my mom does it).
posted by wallaby at 4:18 AM on August 22, 2010
When I'm in the U.S., I tend to just go for the bagged stuff and eat it as is. Because I like to live dangerously. If I'm preparing iceberg, I remove the core (by smashing it on the counter) and then fill the hole with water. Dunno if it works but that's just the way I do it (which is not, fwiw, the way my mom does it).
posted by wallaby at 4:18 AM on August 22, 2010
re: this quote
"If you've got bacteria on the surface of fruits and vegetables, and you give them a wash with cold water, it removes some of what's on the surface," said Brendan Niemira of the USDA's Microbial Food Safety Unit in Pennsylvania. "Unfortunately, it [cold water rinsing] doesn't remove all of them, and that's a problem. If things are well-attached or living in a tight-knit community called a biofilm, that's going to be hard to get rid of."
Even if you can't remove ALL bacteria by rinsing, reducing the amount of bacteria on the surface can make the difference between getting sick and not getting sick. People with decent health can ingest a certain quantity of most microbes without getting sick, but there's a threshold level after which most people will become sick.
I guess it depends on how risk-averse you are. I personally really hate food poisoning, after having it once, and rinsing seems a small gesture to make toward reducing that risk (even somewhat.)
If your health is compromised in any way, or for the very young or very aged, your risk profile changes enough that rinsing may become more than just a small gesture. For people with severely compromised immune systems, it is verboten to even EAT lettuce in the first place.
posted by Ouisch at 4:49 AM on August 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
"If you've got bacteria on the surface of fruits and vegetables, and you give them a wash with cold water, it removes some of what's on the surface," said Brendan Niemira of the USDA's Microbial Food Safety Unit in Pennsylvania. "Unfortunately, it [cold water rinsing] doesn't remove all of them, and that's a problem. If things are well-attached or living in a tight-knit community called a biofilm, that's going to be hard to get rid of."
Even if you can't remove ALL bacteria by rinsing, reducing the amount of bacteria on the surface can make the difference between getting sick and not getting sick. People with decent health can ingest a certain quantity of most microbes without getting sick, but there's a threshold level after which most people will become sick.
I guess it depends on how risk-averse you are. I personally really hate food poisoning, after having it once, and rinsing seems a small gesture to make toward reducing that risk (even somewhat.)
If your health is compromised in any way, or for the very young or very aged, your risk profile changes enough that rinsing may become more than just a small gesture. For people with severely compromised immune systems, it is verboten to even EAT lettuce in the first place.
posted by Ouisch at 4:49 AM on August 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
I am not very cautious about food in general but I usually wash my lettuce (and other greens), then dry in the salad spinner. I do the whole head when I buy it, then wrap up the leaves I'm not using in a damp towel and put that in a plastic bag in the fridge. Mostly it's because the lettuce is, you know, dirty! As in, there's dirt on it. I do wash my lettuce in a bowl (the salad spinner bowl), and, as IvyMike points out, the leftover water is dirty. And sometimes there are bugs or worms in it. (Helpful tip: if you salt the water you wash your greens with, this will supposedly make a lot of the bugs let go of your veggies.)
There's very little point to re-washing pre-cut lettuce, though, because if there was contamination in the bag, it's gotten into the cut surfaces, which you can't wash out.
posted by mskyle at 5:39 AM on August 22, 2010
There's very little point to re-washing pre-cut lettuce, though, because if there was contamination in the bag, it's gotten into the cut surfaces, which you can't wash out.
posted by mskyle at 5:39 AM on August 22, 2010
If you wash lettuce then drops of water might get on the sandwich, producing soggy bread and how disgusting is that?
This is why you a) use a salad spinner (or towels) to dry the greens afterward and b) use a layer of fat between the bread and the fillings -- butter, margarine, mayo -- the oil repels the water and keeps it out of your bread. Really, there is a reason most sandwiches have a fat layer.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:07 AM on August 22, 2010 [2 favorites]
This is why you a) use a salad spinner (or towels) to dry the greens afterward and b) use a layer of fat between the bread and the fillings -- butter, margarine, mayo -- the oil repels the water and keeps it out of your bread. Really, there is a reason most sandwiches have a fat layer.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:07 AM on August 22, 2010 [2 favorites]
-You should wash it as there is probably visible dirt on it, as well as other unspeakable things.
-Get several different kinds of lettuce for color and variety.
-Cut those kinds into salad sized pieces and put them in a collander in a sink full of water.
-Drain the sink and fill it again, swirling the lettuce around.
-Wrap a handful of the lettuce in a tea towel, and pull the four corners together.
-Stick your hand out the window and swing the tea towel around until it's not spraying water anymore. This is fastest, best and easiest way to get the lettuce dry. The drier the lettuce the longer it will last.
-Repeat until all the lettuce is dry.
-Put it in a stainless steel bowl and cover with a damp tea towel.
-It will keep for about a week like this. It's the best way to keep lettuce from wilting that I've found, and now you have a salad base for a whole week.
posted by chrillsicka at 7:04 AM on August 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
-Get several different kinds of lettuce for color and variety.
-Cut those kinds into salad sized pieces and put them in a collander in a sink full of water.
-Drain the sink and fill it again, swirling the lettuce around.
-Wrap a handful of the lettuce in a tea towel, and pull the four corners together.
-Stick your hand out the window and swing the tea towel around until it's not spraying water anymore. This is fastest, best and easiest way to get the lettuce dry. The drier the lettuce the longer it will last.
-Repeat until all the lettuce is dry.
-Put it in a stainless steel bowl and cover with a damp tea towel.
-It will keep for about a week like this. It's the best way to keep lettuce from wilting that I've found, and now you have a salad base for a whole week.
posted by chrillsicka at 7:04 AM on August 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
I can recover from the stomach flu
An e.coli infection can be a lot more serious than the 'stomach flu'.
posted by Miko at 8:50 AM on August 22, 2010 [2 favorites]
An e.coli infection can be a lot more serious than the 'stomach flu'.
posted by Miko at 8:50 AM on August 22, 2010 [2 favorites]
So, the constant spraying the lettuces at my local mega-mart get throughout the day by the automatic sprayers doesn't constitute some degree of washing? We still rinse and dry our lettuce, but I've always wondered how much that spraying does.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:03 AM on August 22, 2010
posted by Thorzdad at 9:03 AM on August 22, 2010
So, the constant spraying the lettuces at my local mega-mart get throughout the day by the automatic sprayers doesn't constitute some degree of washing? We still rinse and dry our lettuce, but I've always wondered how much that spraying does.
I wouldn't think it so. The purpose of spraying is mostly to keep the produce fresher longer, and moreso to keep it looking fresh so people will buy it.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 11:38 AM on August 22, 2010
I wouldn't think it so. The purpose of spraying is mostly to keep the produce fresher longer, and moreso to keep it looking fresh so people will buy it.
posted by Solon and Thanks at 11:38 AM on August 22, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
Leafy greens are one of the most common vectors of food-borne illness, plus they are coated in less-than-delicious pesticides.
But I do the very same thing all the time. Don't tell anyone.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:01 PM on August 21, 2010 [11 favorites]