Clean Greens
"Greens" is just a nice, quick way of saying green, leafy vegetables. These are veggies like lettuce, cabbage, and Prepare a Chicken and Spinach Stir Fry. Unfortunately, these leaves are great for catching pesticides and other chemicals that you may not want in your body. And even if they're organic, there can be dirt and who knows what else from those that handled it. So, you've got to clean them. And the easiest way to clean greens is with a lot of water in the sink.
Steps
By Hand
- Clean the sink thoroughly inside and around the edges, making sure not to leave any soap residue behind. It doesn't have to be sterile, just washed down so there aren't any food remnants or other contaminants. The larger the sink, the better.
- Stop up the sink, but don't fill it with water just yet.
- Know that the easiest way to core and separate a head of lettuce is to firmly (but not squeezing) hold the head of greens in your hands with the stem side down and strike the cut end of the stem against a counter top. This usually cores the head in one or two blows. Then you may pull greens apart (so that nothing remains between leaves that are stuck together) and put them in the sink. For smaller baby greens the stem can usually be pinched away with a thumb and forefinger. To remove tough stems from greens, fold the greens in half along the stem line with one hand clasping close to the stem. With the other hand rip away the stem from the base toward the tip of the leaf. Discard the heart (unless you plan to use the heart for a dish) and any tough stems.
- Fill the sink with cool water.
- Agitate the greens around gently with your hands to circulate the water through them thoroughly. Each leaf should be submerged and moved around.
- Let the leaves sit for a couple minutes, to allow the dirt to settle on the bottom of the sink.
- Lift out the leaves one or two at a time, tearing them into the size you want, or leaving them whole for use later. If you pull a leaf out of the water and it still seems dirty, swish it around in the water gently or, if you have a double sink, run it under the tap in the other sink. Try not to stir the water (and dirt) up too much.
- Put the leaves in a colander to drain. If you place the colander in the sink, make sure you have drained the sink fully and rinsed away any remnants. To remove excess water from greens, place the greens in the center of a large piece of cotton muslin (36' x 36'). Gather up the four corners and four edges of the muslin and grasp firmly. Go outside (or in a shower stall) and swing your arm around in a big circle. The water will spin away from this centrifuge action. Then while you prepare the rest of your meal you can open up the muslin and place the greens on a surface somewhere cool and dry, so the greens dry off even further. You can also use a salad spinner, but muslin is much easier to store and less expensive. Dry greens make the best salads -- the salad dressing is not diluted by rinse water, and the leaves are less prone to rot when the salad is stored.
With a Washing Machine
- Rinse out the washing machine thoroughly so that there's no residue remaining.
- Set the delicate cycle, with cold water.
- Put the greens in the washing machine and let them swish around for up to 5 minutes, but don't let them spin (see Tips).
- Drain the water.
- Do a single rinse in cold water.
- Pull out the greens and drain them in a colander. Don't put them in a dryer!
Tips
- Adding a pinch of salt can also help kill pests and make them detach from the greens.
- Wash in batches if needed.
- If there are any pests on your greens, such as aphids, you may need to let the greens soak a little longer. The warmer the water, the easier it'll be to loosen the pests, especially if you're dealing with a ridged green like kale.
- E. Coli is usually not a problem for properly-grown produce, but it has been known to show up in greens--even those from major organic growers--most likely as a result of the application of manure (as fertilizer) that has not been treated or completely composted. This can be seen in the May 2011 outbreak in Europe of Cucumber E. Coli. E. Coli will not be killed by rinsing alone, but you can add half a capful of bleach to the water and let it soak 5 minutes. Then transfer to another sink with cold water and no bleach, and let soak another 5 minutes before rinsing. Rinse well, and use no more than a very small amount of bleach diluted in a large sink full of water. Using bleach may sound a little extreme, and for consumers at home, it generally is. Growers and produce processors, however, routinely use chlorine to kill bacteria. This can be seen in the May 2011 outbreak in Europe of Cucumber E. coli
- Some people use the spin cycle of a washing machine to dry their greens. Put them in a clean Make a Bed for Your Pet Using a Pillowcase and tie the end, first. Then spin for a few minutes. This is, however, a bit of a waste in terms of energy and can be addressed easily with a manual salad spinner.
- Greens can also be washed in a large container or pot if access to a sink is limited.
Warnings
- Using a washing machine to clean greens is more appropriate for large amounts of greens (i.e. cleaning in preparation to sell). Otherwise, it's a waste of energy and water.
- With turnip, mustard, collard and other sand grown greens-Remember you'll be boiling the greens later so a sanitized washer isn't necessary. If you have small children and "accidents" are common you should do an empty load with a touch of bleach before cleaning your greens. Don't wash the greens in bleach! Just do an empty load (water only) with a touch of bleach to kill any bacteria.
- Some greens are sold pre-washed. You should still rinse these in a sink of cold water as debris is still found in the "triple washed" bags.
- If you do use a washing machine, don't use a public one, and remember that dirty clothes with all their bacteria are washed there, too!
- If you're handling lettuce greens, be gentle unless you don't mind limp, wrinkly lettuce.
- to avoid soaps and bacteria from the washing machine, you can run your machine through the rinse cycle before starting the washing process or do an empty load with hot water.
