The Baking Soda is just miraculous, it is a product with so many purposes, it can be used to clean white clothes, soothe heartburn, and according to the latest researches this ingredients has the ability to eliminate 96% of the pesticides found on the surface of vegetables and fruits.
At the University of Massachusetts, a team of researches was formed and in their study they concluded that the gala apples can only be cleaned with the baking soda and nothing else.
The team applied the most common pesticides these days, which are known as phosmet and thiabendazole on the organic gala apples during the research. The thiabendazole is a famous fungicide that was known for its ability to penetrate the peels of these apples. As the experts like to say, the phosmet is a famous insecticide. Then when these pesticides were applied, the researchers washed the fruit with 3 types of liquid which include: tap water — a 1% water/soda solution, and an approved commercial blench solution by the U.S Environmental Protection Agency.
In the cleaning procedure the most common used liquid is the commercial bleaching solution. According to the research more pesticides were removed by the 2 minute submerging apples in baking soda, than the 2 minute rinsing in running tap water or 2 minute soak in the bleach solution.
But in order to completely eliminate the pesticides, 12-15 minutes were needed to totally get rid of the pesticides which were applied on the fruits and on the vegetables.The baking soda can form an eco-friendly and an effective produce wash because it is an alkaline salt.
Therefore if you want to use it, just add a few tablespoons of it in a bowl filled with water, than soak the veggies and fruits inside, they should be soaked for a few minutes and then you can rinse them with cold water. Or after the soak you can wash them with a produce brush. Also if you like to know, this method is very good for things such as musk melons, because they have rinds that contain all types of crannies and nooks which like to trap dirt and microbes a lot!
Source: healthyfoodchoices365.com