How do you clean your veggies?

[CraigC]

Originally Posted by rush

Also, the collard greens often have yellow grime that is literally embedded onto the leaves. The only way to get 'em off is to manually stretch 'em off with your nails. But they're everywhere...

Does anybody deal with these greens?

I don't think that is "yellow grime", I think they are leaf miners.



Craig

[medtran49]

We grew collards this year. They aren't hard to grow, just need some water every day or every other day depending on weather. If you don't pull the whole plant, just take the outer 3 rings of leaves, leaving at least 3 inner rings of leaves, they plant will continue to grow throughout the season. The texture of the leaves is totally different than what we get at the store, much thicker and more velvety (from lack of a better word). They also take longer to cook but, hey, I'll happily trade that off for just picked greens, rinsed off, and plopped into the pot over the packaged stuff or even the bundles you get in the store. I'm totally spoiled now.

My girlfriend grew kale this past year and she says it's not anymore work than collards, which she did last year.

Both can be blanched and frozen by the way.

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

When I come home from the produce stand, I just toss them all in the dishwasher, hit the RINSE ONLY button, and turn off the DRY cycle.

[CWS4322]

Kale is probably one of the easiest things to grow...it is disease resistant, drought tolerant, and frost resistant. And, it comes back the 2nd year (well, some of it does). This is what goes to seed and where we get our kale seeds for the next year.

[Fabiabi]

Some cold water usually does the job especially if it's from the garden. Maybe soak the veggies if they're from the supermarket and rinse them a few times.

[Selkie]

For greens I break apart the leaves, rinse thoroughly in cold water followed by a spin in the salad spinner.

Carrots, turnips, certain kinds of potatoes and other root vegetables I peel. Fingerlings, Yukon Golds and small red potatoes I scrub with a vegetable brush.

Celery I de-string.

[Fabiabi]

I also think it depends greatly on where your veg is coming from, obviously it will need a good scrub if it's from the supermarket, but if from your own garden where you know what goes on it might just need a rinse to remove mud.