Fruit and Vegetable Wash

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An effective fruit and vegetable wash is a necessary kitchen accessory. You definitely want to make sure you clean off all of the dirt, but you definitely don't want any soap residue or chemical odors left on your food. The reason you cook is to have great tasting food that's good for you too.

I use the Instant Liquid soap at full strength as a fruit and vegetable wash and wash them just like I'll wash a dish. I scrub root vegetables like potatoes, especially if I want to eat the skins. Carrots, celeriac, turnips, etc. Zucchinis, cucumbers, and  winter squashes many times grow laying on the ground, tomatoes have the fine green dust, eggs can have dirt or small microscopic amounts of poop, melons which will harbor tiny bits of dirt in the crevices, eggplants.

For other fruits and vegetables, the fruit and vegetable wash is a small amount of liquid soap diluted in a bowl of water to rinse off excess dirt. Leafy greens, lettuces, beens, cabbages, and the like simply need a rinse and a tiny bot of soap will take care of any pathogens. I'll rinse these types of foods under running drinking water with soapy hands or dip in a bowl of water with literally 1 drop of soap in it, and then rinse again.

Fruits and vegetables peels

It's a good idea to really wash your fruits and vegetables, even if you are going to peel them, so no dirt touches the yummy food that you will eat.

I sometimes use the peels separately from the rest of the fruit or vegetable. For instance, I like to peel my tomatoes for sauce, but make sure I've washed off the green dust so my chickens can enjoy my scraps. The green tomato dust is toxic to them.

I'll use carrot peelings as weights when fermenting vegetables. 

When I make potato chips, I'll wash and peel the skins off, and make a separate set of potato skin chips for Andy, who loves potatoes, but needs to watch his sugar intake. The potato tuber is high in starch and sugar, but the peelings are high in iron and potassium, so potato skin chips are an excellent snack for him. The recipe is below!

Butternut squash to be scrubbed before cutting it open.

celeriac tops washing in a bowl of water with a few Instant Liquid Soap drops, to be used as fermenting weights

Carrot peels soaking in a bowl of water with a few soap drops to be used as a cover under the fermenting weight

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Potato chip recipe

This recipe is for 5 lbs of potatoes that I put in my dehydrator. I didn't plan to do this, but when I dug up my potatoes, about 1/2 of them were not great for long term storage, so I dehydrated chips. 

In the photos below you will notice scars, brown spots, and some bug bites. Since these blemishes will shorten the storage life of my potatoes, I decided to process them, so they can be safely stored for the Winter.

Potato chips and potato skin chips

Recipe for Potato Chips

This recipe is for 5 lbs of potatoes that I put in my dehydrator. I didn't plan to do this, but when I dug up my potatoes, about 1/3-1/2 of them were not great for long term storage, so I dehydrated chips.

In the photos below you will notice scars, brown spots, and some bug bites. Since these blemishes will shorten the storage life of my potatoes, I decided to process them, so they can be safely stored for the Winter.

Scrub your potatoes with a soapy sponge and peel. Set the peels aside for potato skin chips. The recipe is below.

Slice potatoes into 1/8-1/4 inch slices. I used the slicer blade on my Cuisinart food processor. It made the slices a little bit thicker than if I had sliced them by hand, but it was fast.

Place sliced potatoes in a pot of water to boil with about 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar in it. Make sure the potatoes are covered with water. Boil for 3-4 minutes if you slice them thinner by hand. For the food processor blade thickness, I'd recommend boiling them for closer to 10 minutes. You want them to be partially cooked but have enough of the starch be removed so the chips are crunchy instead of tough. If you make them and they are too tough for chips, you can rehydrate them when you want to use them and either bake them to make them into chips or add them to soups, etc.

Place on your dehydrator racks so they can dry. This takes about 5 minutes. 

Empty the pot and place your potatoes back in the pot. Drizzle about 1/2 cup of olive oil on the potatoes and gently toss so the chips are covered.

Arrange on your dehydrator racks and sprinkle with salt. Dehydrate at 145 degrees for about 12 hours. Pack in an airtight jar as soon as they are crisp enough for storage.

Washed potatoes drying for storage

Washed potatoes for chips. See the scars etc? This will shorten their storage life, which is why they are selected for making into dehydrated chips. Then they can be stored.

Peeped chip potatoes that have not had the blemishes removed yet.

Recipe for Potato Skin Chips

Toss the skins in olive oil and arrange on baking trays. Sprinkle with salt to taste. Bake for 20 minutes in a 350 degree oven. 

Arrange the potato skin chips on your dehydrator racks lined with parchment paper. Dehydrate at 145 degrees F for 3 hours more. Pack in an airtight jar while they are are still warm to keep them as dry as possible and seal out any moisture in the air.

potato chips in a sealed jar for storage

potato skin chips in a sealed jar for storage

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