The last time that you brought produce home from the store, did you take a moment to think about what was on the surface of your new bits of tasty goodness? Aside from the obvious dirt, you could also be looking at harmful pesticides or fertilizer residue. A lot of the time, simply rinsing your fruits or vegetables under clean water won’t remove those residues. If you’re trying to proactive, you may be buying fruit and vegetable wash to use instead. While that is awesome, it can and will quickly get very expensive. A much easier (and healthier) solution is making your own homemade vegetable wash instead!
This homemade vegetable wash is great for fruits or vegetables. It uses lemon essential oil and apple cider vinegar which not only help to remove any harmful toxins from pesticides, but will also help to remove harmful bacteria. Don’t be too concerned about the lemon juice and ACV changing the taste of your food. They won’t as long as you get it rinsed well enough. Because it does have lemon essential oil in it, you’ll want to use a dark glass container to store it in when you’re not using it. Light is the enemy of essential oils so by using a dark blue glass spray bottle or a dark amber glass spray bottle, you’ll help to keep light away from the oils. The reason for glass is because essential oils can actually speed the degradation of plastic. This means that your oil can quite literally eat away at the plastic causing it to leech toxic chemicals into your homemade vegetable wash.
Homemade Vegetable Wash
When you make this homemade vegetable wash for yourself, it won’t matter what brand of essential oil that you use as long as it is 100% pure oil and isn’t cut with anything. There is no grading system for essential oils and anyone can use the label “therapeutic grade” whether it is pure oil or not. Making sure that you’re using 100% oil is all that is really needed. I personally prefer Plant Therapy essential oils, but feel free to use what you would like. I like Plant Therapy though because I know they’re 100% pure. I do however use what I have on hand as shown by the photo below. As far as the ACV, any organic apple cider vinegar will do. Since you’re not ingesting this, it won’t matter if it has the “Mother” with it or not.
You Will Need:
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 cup distilled water
- 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
- Natural dish soap
- 15 drops lemon essential oil
In a dark glass bottle, mix all of the ingredients except the dish soap. Shake well then add a few drops of the natural dish soap and shake again. The reason for adding the soap last is to keep the soap from sudsing up too much. Adding it after the vinegar, juice and oil are mixed should help cut down on the amount of suds your homemade vegetable wash makes. Add a spray nozzle to your bottle and you’re done!
Shake the mixture well before each use.
To use: spray your produce down liberally and allow it to sit for a few minutes. Rinse well before eating raw or using in your favorite recipe. When you’re not using your homemade vegetable spray, store it in the fridge for best quality. It will keep approximately 1-2 weeks depending on the temperature of your fridge.
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