Thrifty Tips: DIY Fruit Wash

Help your fruit stay fresh longer with this amazing DIY Fruit Wash.

Did you know that pesticides are a common part of produce production in our country? I was a little shocked to find out that after the harvest, the pesticides aren’t washed off the fruit. Instead the fruit gets dipped (apples in particular) in a big vat of colored wax. We are told that this is to help the fruit stay fresh for longer…Well, I ain’t buyin’ it.

Okay, okay…I don’t buy that hype, but of course I still by produce. Especially apples. They are so crunchy and sweet! How can anyone resist a scrumptious apple? For a while I was putting my apples into a sink filled with equal parts apple cider vinegar and water. While this does seem to remove bugs, worms, and a good amount of dirt and grime, that waxy coating is still on the apple, and I just have this sneaking suspicion that all the pesticides are hiding in that wax. So, you know I had to find an inexpensive, all-natural solution to this dilemma.

This DIY Fruit Wash is perfect for stripping away all of your worries and suspicions about pesticides and what ever other cooties they put on our fruit during production and harvest. The lemon oil is amazing at cleaning produce when it is combined with just a couple other ingredients. For good measure, I created a fruit soak that also works way better than your standard apple cider vinegar soak.

Finally, we can throw caution to the wind and take a confident bite out of our fruit, and heck…why not take a confident bite out of life too?

How to Make DIY Fruit Wash

Ingredients for Spray:

1 Cup Warm Water

1 Tablespoon Baking Soda

5 Drops Lemon Essential Oil OR 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Ingredients for Fruit Soak:

5 Drops Lemon Essential Oil OR 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

½ Cup White Vinegar

For spray: Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle and shake well.

*To ensure your brand of essential oil (if you choose this option) mixes into the mixture and doesn’t sit on top, mix the baking soda and oil together in a dish first and then add it to the water.

Fill bottle and spray on fruit and let sit a couple of minutes before rinsing under cool water.

For soak: Fill your sink with warm water or fill a large bowl with water.

Place your fruit in the bowl (be sure that you do not add too much fruit at a time and do not make the water too hot) and add either your juice and vinegar mixture or the oil and vinegar mixture.

Let the fruit soak for about 25-30 minutes then rinse thoroughly.

DIY Fruit Wash

This fruit wash is all natural and so easy to make at home!

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Course: homemade diy

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 16 oz

Author: Karrie

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Warm Water
• 1 TBSP Baking Soda
• 5 Drops Lemon Essential Oil or 1 TBSP Lemon Juice

Instructions

• Mix baking soda and essential oil together
• Mix into water
• Pour into spray bottle
• Spray on fruit and let sit for 2 minutes before rinsing with cool water

Notes

For fruit soak:

Substitute water with 1/2 cup white vinegar

1. Fill your sink with warm water or fill a large bowl with water.
2. Place your fruit in the bowl (be sure that you do not add too much fruit at a time and do not make the water too hot) and add either your juice and vinegar mixture or the oil and vinegar mixture.
3. Let the fruit soak for about 25-30 minutes then rinse thoroughly.

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About Karrie

Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...