Removing Pesticide from Produce

(Psst: The FTC wants me to remind you that this website contains affiliate links. That means if you make a purchase from a link you click on, I might receive a small commission. This does not increase the price you'll pay for that item nor does it decrease the awesomeness of the item. ~ Daisy)

While I would love for every bite we consume to be organic, budgetary restrictions don’t always allow for it.  I do buy my produce from local farms and have a good relationship with a couple of favorite fellows in overalls, so I’m able to quiz them about what is sprayed on the goodies I bring home.  One important fact that most people don’t realize is the high price of becoming “certified organic” – it is literally tens of thousands of dollars.  This being the case, a lot of local produce is organic, just not certified organic.

So what can we do about those fruits and veggies that get sprayed?   Apples, for example, can have more than 48 different pesticides on them, according to a report by the Environmental Working Group.   You can clean off more than 95% of the pesticides if you are diligent in your process.  Because of chemtrails and spraying of nearby farms, even organic veggies can have some toxins.  I use this process for cleaning all of our food before consuming or preserving it.

I put  1 cup of baking soda and some all natural dish soap into a sink full of hot water.

I let the apples soak in the solution for about 20 minutes.  An alarming white film of gunk rose to the top of the sink.

I drained the sink, rinsed the apples and then  took a cloth and scrubbed the outside of the apples. After this, I was still able to see a film on them, which I’m assuming is not a naturally-occurring-to-apples kind of thing.  So I dried them with dish towels, cleaned out my sink with vinegar, and then repeated the whole process again.  This time there was far less white gunk in the sink after the apples soaked..

I drained the sink, rinsed the apples again and dried them with a good scrubbing using paper towels.  The apples were now gunk free.  This is time consuming, but I think well worth the time spent to remove as much of the chemical residue as possible.

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Daisy Luther

Daisy Luther is a coffee-swigging, globe-trotting blogger. She is the founder and publisher of three websites.  1) The Organic Prepper, which is about current events, preparedness, self-reliance, and the pursuit of liberty on her website, 2)  The Frugalite, a website with thrifty tips and solutions to help people get a handle on their personal finances without feeling deprived, and 3) PreppersDailyNews.com, an aggregate site where you can find links to all the most important news for those who wish to be prepared. She is widely republished across alternative media and  Daisy is the best-selling author of 5 traditionally published books and runs a small digital publishing company with PDF guides, printables, and courses. You can find her on FacebookPinterest, Gab, MeWe, Parler, Instagram, and Twitter.

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  • Could it also have been a thin “wax” coating? I know they do this to maintain prolonged freshness of produce, and have also heard there are some coatings that are (naturally) toxic, but others would qualify for organic status. Just wondering if this could account for the gunk you saw, if these were organic??

    • Debby ~ These apples were conventionally grown, but at a local farm. I was able to learn what type of pesticide was used and that’s why I chose to go ahead and spend the extra time attempting to remove the pesticides.

  • i appreciate the info, especially the dirty rice article…although my family is about 60% organic working towards 100% but that would be a hard ‘number’ to attain i think…(toughest part is wheat and corn; plus organic tortillas suck) my approach is threefold. Although this past summer my family and I (kids loved it) learned to grow potatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, lettuce, and a few other veggies….1) I try to make a point of buying produce from south america, south africa, or mexico when available and make point to find; primarily to avoid as best I can the radioactive fallout currently coming from Japan when I go grocery shopping. I understand that pesticide levels in foreign countries is questionable at best but its the least I can do. I do my absolute best to avoid california grown produce. 2) all produce is soaked in a calcium bentonite clay and flouride free water bath then washed with a 3) homemade veggie wash solution mainly composed of grapefruit seed extract and baking soda. This chore is mainly done by my oldest son with some complaint but he has no choice.

    Unfortunately ALL FOOD is contaminated with crap of varying levels so no matter how much one tries its very hard to avoid all contaminants. Hard to believe but if you read as much as I do then you will see that its true. Plus my family takes vitamins on a daily basis…ok we may miss saturdays b/c not home but this is our protocol. Mom/dad 20K units of Vit D3; 3000 mg of Vit C; daily 18 strain Probiotic; 500 mg Niacin; 250 mg of Resveratrol; 300 mg CoQ10. plus Mom gets organic multivitamin; Big boy same w exception of Niacin; CoQ10; and Resveratrol; shorties 10K units Vit D3; 2K mg Vit C; daily 18 strain probiotic. Looking to add Magnesium and a couple of other vitamins but still faking final selection. We were taking high concentrate mineral solution but not in budget at the moment. difficulty is finding all organic vitamins; for example have not found organic vit c in 1000 mg dose.

    This spring hoping to start hydroponic system if a few things fall inplace; would love aquaponic but few more things need to fall in place for that. just my 0.02 cents

    • Some great advice there, Al, thank you!

      What brand do you use for the D3? And I want to be sure I understand correctly – is that 20,000 IU of D3? I live in Canada and I am not able to find doses anywhere near that – I’d be taking half a bottle!

      I’m not sure where you are located but I found some excellent Canadian sources of organic wheat berries and organic cornmeal that I’d be happy to pass on: Oak Manor Farms. http://oakmanorfarms.ca/store/index.php?main_page=index&zenid=5ccf6ce6ce46d23f1c1288e50619a7f3

      Even with the shipping (which is outrageously expensive!) it’s still far less than buying these products organic at the grocery store.

      I use the bentonite clay also – I keep meaning to get an article together about that! 🙂

      Thanks for stopping by!

      Daisy

      • Hi Daisy,
        Many thanks to you. Could you please tell me more about using bentonite clay in details and your achievements as well.
        Warm wishes,
        Mehrdad

  • thanks again for your site and enjoy reading your comments at shtfplan as well. quick question what type of ‘natural’ dish soap do you use in the veggie wash you use in your sink

    • I use “Method” dish soap – it’s made from vegetable glycerin so it’s not great for really dirty dishes. Great info about the ozone generator and bleach water!

  • oh a couple of other things….i read that in order to extend the life of your lettuce and berries for example I used to wash them in a bleach solution. use 1 tablespoon of plain unscented bleach in a sink full of water. drop berries or dip lettuce in it. spin with hand for 2-3 minutes. fish them out and drain sink. fill sink with fresh water and put berries back in or dip lettuce back in to rinse for couple of minutes…not too long for lettuce gets to heavy with water and soggy. can repeat rinse if you like. berries will last easy week in fridge like that. Another method is to buy a ozone generator. Got mine from amazon. They WORK FABULOUSLY. after washing fruit/veggies/berries as above the ozone generator EASILY extends life to almost 2 weeks for blueberries or raspberries plus keeps other produce fresh for immense amount of time. best 14 bucks ever spent.

  • Hello Daisy…We currently buy Natures Bounty 5000 mg tabs…I have seen 10K mg tabs but pick up the 5K’s at local Costco. So shorties take two of course, and they do quite well with the horse pill sized Vit C. will look for the ‘natural’ dish soap at local whole foods. The probiotics besides their own health properties have been found to degrade most if not all types of BisPhenols (15 different types; BPS being worse than BPA) so a BPA free bottle for example may have BPS substituted instead. you can run but you cant hide from these madmen but at least you can mitigate most of their poison.

    Also the Vit C protocol was established by the Intravenous Institute in Japan in order to counter act the neg effects of radiation. I will dig up links and repost later for you and your readers. Also picked up some Lysosomal Vit C, keep it on hand for heavy flu season or if they start the next plague not to mention IV Vit C itself. The lysosomal Vit C is more bioavailable vs tablet from. That is the same type the family in Australian gave their loved one when the false swine flu pandemic was making rounds couple of years ago. you can find the Australian 60 minutes version report on his story. Search you tube for lysosomal vit c. Also Intravenous Vit C is the type you should try to get but short of a Dr’s script which they wont give you its hard to obtain. unless you have a Veterinarian friend. Its that same as human use but labelled as animal. Can get from Australia, only place I found.

    hope you and your readers have a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday depending on your/their faith. As for me I enjoyed the Winter solstice.

  • One more detail I hope is helpful. I learned that almost ALL Vitamin C sold in US is corn based — which is a problem not only for those with grain issues, but also because so much of corn is GMO. There ARE alternatives, but you have to do a lot of research to find an acceptable non-corn source, or at least a nonGMO source. I use pure radiance C … it is more expensive naturally, as it takes more product to equal a higher dose, but worth it to some.

  • Thank you I have been scrubbing mine with washing up liquid and I can not say I can notice any differance. Is it alright to use baking soda that’s sold in bulk to unblock drains or is there something nasty in it? In the UK if you want a cup of food standard baking soda you are going to use a whole tub!

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