What is used to wash the fruit? what to use
We chose fragrant pears and blackcurrants as the fruits for this cleaning experiment. As we all know, fragrant pears have a layer of wax on the surface, and when held in the hand, they will feel greasy. If you touch them too much, they will leave a layer of wax on your hands, which needs to be cleaned with soap. Blackcurrants, on the other hand, are mainly white fruit powder with a small amount of wax, which is not smooth to the touch.
How should fruits be cleaned?
There are many ways to wash fruit, but which one is more reliable and reassuring? We selected six common methods and conducted a set of simple experiments.
We chose fragrant pears and blackcurrants as the fruits for this cleaning experiment. As we all know, fragrant pears have a layer of wax on the surface, and when held in the hand, they will feel greasy. If you touch them too much, they will leave a layer of wax on your hands, which needs to be cleaned with soap. Blackcurrants, on the other hand, are mainly white fruit powder with a small amount of wax, which is not smooth to the touch.
soak in water
Duration: 1 hour.
Serving: 1 bowl.
A bowl of water (tap water), directly into the fragrant pears and blackcurrants, soak for an hour, then change the water and rinse again.
Results: The water quality basically did not change, and a small amount of impurities could be seen precipitating. The wax on the surface of the fragrant pear was slightly removed, and it was not as greasy to the touch as before. The surface of blackcurrant did not change much, and there was still a small amount of residue in the fruit powder.
Starch cleaning
Time: half an hour.
Dosage: 2 spoons.
A bowl of water, add two spoonfuls of starch, stir well, add fragrant pears and blackcurrants. Soak for about half an hour. Change the water and rinse again.
Results: The water quality did not change much (because of the addition of starch, the water quality itself was relatively turbid), and there was a small amount of impurities on the water surface. The wax on the surface of the fragrant pear was basically washed off, and the gloss on the surface of the pear could be seen, and it felt very clean to the touch. The white substance on the surface of the blackcurrant still remained.
Washing rice soak
Time: half an hour.
Serving: 2 bowls.
Put 2 bowls of rice washing water after soaking the rice for about 10 minutes, directly put in the fragrant pears and blackcurrants, soak for about 30 minutes, take it out and rinse with water.
Results: The rice washing water that had high hopes was basically useless for the wax. There were indeed impurities precipitated on the water surface, but to the touch, the wax on the surface of the fragrant pear and blackcurrant was still there, and it felt like it had not been washed.
Rub with salt
Time: Approximately 5 minutes.
Dosage: 4-5 spoons.
Sprinkle salt directly on the surface of the fragrant pear, then rub it repeatedly with your hands, and then rinse it with water.
Result: This method involves repeatedly rubbing salt particles on the skin of the fruit to remove the wax. The effect is not bad, the wax layer on the surface of the fragrant pear is basically removed, and it doesn't feel greasy to the touch. However, just washing one pear requires about four or five spoonfuls of salt, which feels a bit "too wasteful".
With shell powder
Time: half an hour.
Dosage: 2-3 grams.
Shell powder can not only wash fruits and vegetables, but also wash clothes and pots and pans. In a bowl of water, add about 2-3 grams of shell powder, stir well, then add fragrant pears and blackcurrants. Soak for about 30 minutes, and finally rinse with water.
Results: After soaking for about 2 minutes, you can see a layer of oil floating on the water surface; about 20 minutes, the water surface is completely covered by a thin layer of wax, just like the feeling of candle oil dripping in water. With a touch of the hand, the white wax sticks to the finger. After rinsing with water, the wax on the surface of the fragrant pear is basically gone, and you can also see the natural gloss, which is not greasy for the hand; the white substance of the blackcurrant is basically free, and it feels very "crisp" when you rub the skin.
detergent
Time: 20 minutes.
Dosage: 3 drops.
The evaluation used a certain brand of green tea detergent, which is claimed to be natural and pollution-free, so you can wash fruits and vegetables with confidence. According to the quantity ratio on the manual, put 3 drops of detergent in water, add fragrant pears and blackcurrants, soak for about 20 minutes, and rinse twice with water.
Results: The water quality basically did not change, and no impurities floated. After rinsing with water, I felt that the wax and white fruit powder were basically cleaned, and it was not greasy to the touch.
Concluding statement:
The most realistic use of starch
According to the results of this test, obviously, in terms of removing the wax on the surface of the fruit, using starch and shell powder to clean the effect is the cleanest and most satisfactory. The principle of the two is actually similar, not by dissolving (wax has strong stability and cannot be removed by ordinary substances), but by using adsorption. It is very suitable for cleaning fruits with thin peels.
Since the cleaning effect is the same, the key depends on the price ratio. A can of shell powder is 90 grams, the price of online shopping is about 70 yuan, and the dosage is 2-3 grams at a time; in comparison, starch is much more affordable.
It is also useful to soak in water for a long time
In this experiment, the results of soaking in water, which was originally thought to be the most unreliable, surprised the reporter. It can be seen that if you don't trust any added substances, just soaking in water is also effective. But the premise is that it needs to be soaked for a long time. For example, in this experiment, the soaking time was more than 1 hour. Of course, some fruits soaked for a long time may affect the taste.
Salt is unreliable to be verified
Sprinkle table salt on the surface of the peel and rub it repeatedly. In fact, this principle is the same as starch and shell powder - to remove impurities from the epidermis through the friction of the school grain. But there is another theory: table salt is sodium chloride, which can play a stabilizing role in some pesticide ingredients and may be self-defeating. For this statement, the evaluation center asked Professor Chen Ligeng of the Agriculture and Biology TechAcademy of Zhejiang University. His answer is that there is no special research in this area. If you are really worried, it is recommended to peel it and eat it directly.
Expert advice:
The fruit powder and wax are within the edible range, just rinse the fruit with water.
Some fruits, such as blueberries, plums, and grapes, will have white fruit powder on the surface of the peel, so don't worry too much. Fruit powder is the secretion of the fruit, which is related to the freshness of the fruit. "If there is fruit powder, it means the fruit is very fresh". Like blueberries, you can eat it now. Grapes will use certain pesticides to prevent diseases in the young fruit stage, but they are basically not used after bagging, so even if there is some residue on the epidermis, they basically lose their medicine *. For this type of fruit, the establishment of experts is to rinse it directly with water.
As for the wax on the surface of fragrant pears and apples, it should be edible wax under normal circumstances. They come from the secretions of animals and plants and are edible and harmless to the human body.
Washing this type of fruit with shell powder, rice washing water, etc., can reveal floating matter on the surface of the water. According to a relevant person from the Hangzhou Agricultural Bureau, these floating matter, in addition to fruit powder, may also be the dust accumulated by the fruit exposed to the air, or the condensation of pesticides used in the early days on the fruit, which has also lost its medicinal properties during the ripening stage of the fruit.
For fruits such as strawberries and bayberry that cannot be peeled, experts believe that the best way to wash them is to rinse them with water and then soak them in cold water for about half an hour.
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