Kitchen Chemist
How to Wash SALAD GREENS
Salad greens - baby Romaine lettuce, arugula, baby spinach, frisée, and a host of others - are among the most healthful foods you can enjoy. Not only are salad greens “living” food, they offer vitamins and minerals as well as dietary fiber.
The Basics
During the past few years, there have been outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness (resulting in several deaths) from improperly washed spinach and other salad greens. Although you can’t oversee operations at the farm or food processing plant, you can minimize the impact of inadequately cleansed salad greens by properly washing them at home.
Getting Started
You don’t need anything fancy - just a clean dish basin, fresh cold water, and a salad spinner or drainer of some kind. We highly recommend salad spinners. They remove excess wash water by centrifugal force - or counterclockwise “spinning.” They are an investment that pays dividends in time savings and healthful eating.
Cost Savings
After spinning your salad greens, they will keep up to a week in the refrigerator. Consider how often you have thrown away spoiled or limp salad greens and the cost savings become apparent. Properly washed greens help keep you safe from food-borne illness and that is priceless.
Monday, February 22, 2010
5 STEPS TO WASH SALAD GREENS
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1.Fill a clean basin half-way with cold water.
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2.Gently add your salad greens to the water. If you were to put the greens in the basin before adding the water, the rush of water from the faucet would damage the delicate greens, causing them to bruise and decay more quickly. [Ed: A similar method works well for washing leeks.]
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3.Push down gently on the greens and let them rise several times to wash them in the cold water. Swish them gently. Gently is the operative word here.
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4.Remove the greens, one handful at a time, and drain them well, preferably by drying them of excess water with a salad spinner. Salad spinners come in a variety of sizes. We use a large one for salad greens and a small one for herbs.
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5.Store the greens in the salad spinner or in another covered container in your refrigerator. Properly stored, the greens will stay fresh and crisp for up to a week. You can rinse and spin the greens again before use to assure that they are clean.
© 2010 Cynthia E. Field, Ph.D. All rights reserved worldwide.
What You Need
clean basin • cold water
(salad spinner highly recommended)
SALAD GREENS TIPS
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Choose greens that are as fresh as possible. Ideally, you would grow your own greens but this isn’t possible during certain times of the year. In the grocery store, we always look at the cut ends of the stems and avoid any that are obviously discolored. We also choose to buy organic salad greens, even though they cost a little more. -
Be sure to check the “Use by” date on the package of greens. Buy the greens with the longest available shelf life. At least one study showed that produce with only 5 days of shelf life remaining was higher in bacterial contamination.
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Avoid pre-cut lettuce; the process of cutting the leaves can introduce bacteria and other spoilage organisms.
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Wash the salad greens as soon as you get them home from the store or farmer’s market.
Washed, Refrigerated Greens in a Salad Spinner
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