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
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
- 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.
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Will I need to make the spray every time I clean my fruit? Or can I keep it on the counter or in the fridge?
You can keep it on the counter 🙂
What do you wash strawberries with? I dont want them to taste different, and know they are sprayed with insectidides.
I have been doing a fruit wash for a while now with vinegar and warm water and I can feel that the wax is gone from my apples. The only problem that I have is that it seems to leave a white colored residue. Not sure what it is and wondered if you had experienced anything like this?
I think that is the wax coating that they spray on fruit perhaps? Not sure!
Thank you for the comment Emmanuel.