Baking soda is one of the most versatile products we can use, as it is highly practical and offers potent medicinal properties. It relieves your heartburn, boosts skin and hair health, whitens the teeth, acts as a powerful cleaning agent, and much more.
Apparently, it is also able to eliminate up to 90% of pesticides from fruit and vegetables.
Researchers at the University of Massachusetts have conducted a study on gala apples in order to test the efficacy of baking soda in cleaning the fruits.
They used two most common pesticides, thiabendazole, and phosmet, the first one being a fungicide that is able to penetrate apple peels, and the second is a popular insecticide.
Moreover, they used three different liquids to clean the contaminated apples: tap water, a one percent baking soda/water solution, and the most commonly used commercial bleach solution approved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
They found that the baking soda solution eliminated more pesticides in 2 minutes when soaked in the bleach solutions, and when rinsed in the running tap water. Yet, they needed to soak in the baking soda for 12- 15 minutes to completely eliminate all pesticides.
Baking soda is an alkaline salt, so it is eco-friendly, and effective produce wash, that easily removes pesticide residue from hard0skinned fruits and vegetables.
All you have to do is to add a few tablespoons of it to a bowl of water and soak the veggies and fruits in it for several minutes. Then, rinse them with fresh cold water.
In the case of fruits like muskmelons, whose nooks and crannies in the rinds easily trap dirt and microbes, sprinkle baking soda over them, and scrub away with a produce brush.
Simple, but highly effective! Try it next time and be sure that your foods are free of pesticides!
