A Newbies Guide: How To Clean Your Greens 101

Much of the produce we buy at the store has already been pre-washed and bagged or boxed to make it more convenient for the consumer.  But what if you buy your produce fresh from the farm...or without prewashing and bagging?  How do you clean your produce?

One of the easiest ways to clean all produce naturally is with White Vinegar.  Simply add some vinegar and water to a deep bowl/basin and drop in produce, swish, rinse well, and dry.  It's imperative that you dry your produce well so that it doesn't begin to mold.

Greens require a little bit more effort on your part.  Anytime you are cleaning greens you need to soak them in a big basin of water so that the dirt and any little critters from the farm can fall off.  Lightly salting the water or adding a little Apple Cider Vinegar encourages the buggy-boos to swim off their green island so you can eat bug free produce.  Transfer the leaves to a salad spinner (do not dump the basin over your colander with the leaves in it, as this just puts all the dirt and bugs back on them).  Use a salad spinner to take off most of the excess water and store in a container with a damp paper towel.  Empty water from basin and clean.

To make your greens very convenient for you to use, take the time to do this when you get home from the market.  Right away clip, clean, and wash your greens and store in the fridge so there is one less step when you're ready to use them.

As you'll see in the photos i was working with 3 bunches of chard.  While you can leave the stem on them, i like to clip the thick stem and wash and trim it up separate.  i use these stems in place celery in salad and in crudites, or in my fave:  ants on a log (a stick filled with Almond Butter and raisins or chopped date).

Follow the visual guide below for cleaning greens:

soak, swish, let dirt settle back at bottom, place leaves in salad spinner and rinse

spin dry

package with a damp paper towel at bottom

i re-use these salad containers so they don't end up in the landfill

scrub and trim stems, compost the rest.  store in fridge, immersed in water

very dirty water with little wormies and buggy-boos.  This is why we clean greens!

...and now your greens are ready for your green drinks, salads, wraps, and all the other wonderful meals that you green up!