How to wash vegetables and herbs to get rid of pests: tips

Store-bought vegetables and herbs are often sold dirty and contain a large amount of various nitrates and parasites. Therefore, it is not enough to simply rinse the products in water before eating them: they should be soaked for some time. And you need to learn how to do it properly.

Nutritionist Anastasia Movchun (anastasiia_movchun) explained how to properly soak greens and vegetables before eating them on her Instagram page.

According to the expert, soaking greens and vegetables is necessary in order to:

• Neutralize nitrates. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of them in store-bought vegetables, fruits, and herbs. And in order to get rid of the most of them, the products need to be soaked.
• Eliminate parasites and their larvae. After all, helminths are often not visible to the human eye.

• Get rid of sand, soil, and dirt residue. Just washing the food with water is not enough.

Here's how to wash vegetables and herbs properly:

1. Rinse vegetables and herbs thoroughly under running water.

2. Then put them in a container and cover with cold, clean water.

3. Add a pinch of baking soda/salt/lemon juice/apple cider vinegar. Leave in this form for 15-30 minutes.

Important: baking soda, salt, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar must be added to the water because ordinary water cleanses food from nitrates and dirt, while and an acidic environment cleanses food from parasites.