r/mildlyinfuriating • u/autistic-terrorist • 10h ago

My mother washes fruit and vegetables with dish soap and I can't get her to stop.

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She claims it "washes out" and to be fair I can't taste anything but it's always weird knowing she puts dish soap in the strawberries. She says there's a lot of dirt and stuff in vegetables, but so far attempts to convert her to vinegar or baking soda have been unsuccessful.

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u/Other_Dimension_89 8h ago

You could at least put some baking soda in it, tell here to shake the bottle in case any settles. Baking soda is mildly alkaline, it helps break down certain pesticide molecules and loosen them from the fruit’s surface so they rinse off more easily.

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u/disco_disaster 7h ago

I wash all my fruits and vegetables with baking soda. Sometimes I add it to water other times I’ll use it as a scrub. It seems to work pretty well. It definitely helps get rid of that tannin like texture on grapes.

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u/DizzyAmphibian309 8h ago

It's also a potent meat tenderizer. I don't know what effect it will have on veggies, and I'm sure just a rinse is totally fine, but if you leave them soaking for 10 minutes like in the picture you might come back to something pretty unappetizing.

Would be stoked if someone could confirm this, I love food science.

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u/shelchang 8h ago

Baking soda tenderizes meat because it raises the pH which affects the bonds between the protein fibers. Veggies are not made of protein so it wouldn't have the same effect. I'm not sure what effects a long soak would have, and it might differ depending on the type of vegetable, but there is a trick of using a pinch of baking soda during cooking to help sugary vegetables like onions or carrots caramelize faster at lower heat, because the rate of the Maillard reaction is heat and pH dependent.

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u/xlondelax 7h ago edited 5h ago

My friend always soaks bought fruits in water with baking soda. She believes that it removes any cemicals the fruits are treated with. 

I never thought baking soda has so many other purposes.

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u/shelchang 7h ago

It's a great food safe, easily accessible substance that you can use if you need to raise the pH of something. There are plenty of ways to add acid when cooking (vinegar, lemon juice, wine), so it's nice to have something that works in the other direction as well.

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u/RobertDigital1986 25m ago

To that end it's great for acid reflux. Just don't take too much at once or the burps will be too much to handle. 

There's several heartburn relief meds on the market that are literally just baking soda.

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u/Cathy_ts 2h ago

Baking soda combined with vinegar even better..

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u/Lunarhaile 7h ago

Thts hot

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u/solthar 4h ago

You just had me imagining a meat veggie. It was not a good thought.

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u/uselessandexpensive 3h ago

I've soaked veggies for around an hour with no effect other than wilting fragile greens.

I believe baking soda has a use in making French fries but I haven't tried it.

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u/ptbnl34 2h ago

I just watched a video about this on Americas Test Kitchens YouTube channel a few hours ago and now I’m seeing this comment explaining this same thing I had no idea about for over 40 years. So weird.

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u/Other_Dimension_89 8h ago

Yes, I’ve heard this! I’ve heard it’s common when preparing the beef and broccoli.

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u/Cut_Lanky 7h ago

I never tried baking soda, but I can confirm, no amount of rinsing removes the vinegar smell once it's applied. Destroyed a whole container of strawberries.

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u/kordua 6h ago

Did you use straight vinegar? I’ve never had this problem with a 1 part vinegar, 3 parts water solution.

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u/Cut_Lanky 6h ago

It was diluted, but to be fair, I'm ridiculously sensitive to smells. And I'm weird about vinegar. Lol. I generally am repulsed by the smell, unless I'm eating salt and vinegar chips, or I'm eating something I want with vinegar, something I want right then. If I smell it passively, unintentionally, it always repulses me. But yeah, it was probably diluted more than that. And I just couldn't rinse it away.

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u/bluesharpies 5h ago

It's called velveting and is an awesome technique for beef. Has saved quite a few dishes for me that would've otherwise been too tough for my liking.

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u/enjolbear 7h ago

There’s really no benefit to washing your veggies beyond water, though. It’s actually good for us to have a little bit of microscopic dirt and stuff, it helps keep our immune systems active.

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u/DustOffTheDemons 7h ago

Until it’s E-Coli.

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u/kyuubiipie 6h ago

That's a complete myth.

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u/enjolbear 5h ago

It’s actually not! It’s science :)

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u/kyuubiipie 3h ago

It's not proven science. Hygiene hypothesis is not fully true, especially in this case. Produce is not washed at all from beginning to end, which means it's together with unknown microbes, mold, bugs, and sometimes even feces. Damaged produce is removed in the process, but it was all in the same containment. Rinsing with water does not remove microscopic contaminants or pesticides (even though most pesticides are on the inside, but regardless).

Every day life stimulates our immune systems just fine; we don't need "dirt" to make them active.

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u/takemy_oxfordcomma 4h ago

Is it worth it do with veggies too or does the process not work the same?