On Sun, 02 May 2004 21:25:25 -0700, (Glenna Rose)
wrote:

writes:

What is the need to wash them?
Have you sprayed some pesticide on them organic or chemical ?

My mother-in-law and you must have grown up together. She never washed
anything homegrown with the reason that it had not been sprayed. Well,
that may work for her; however, I'd like to get off general dust as well
as bird droppings and anything else that might be floating around in the
air.

BTW, the friends whose garden she harvested from had a big dog adding
another thing to wash off (or at least wipe off).

Glenna

LOL I was gonna add that myself, plus there are not so friendly
critters in the soil in some areas.. worms which encyst and float
around and get splattered up onto food crops and yup lots of birds and
the droppings of some birds carry parasites in search of hosts. I
also recall a biology instructor who got married and went to Mexico on
his honeymoon, and he sheepishly admitted eating fresh apparently ill
washed or unwashed strawberries .. he should have KNOWN BETTER being a
biology instructor. He got amoebic dysentery for his lack of
troubling. That trip was forever etched in his memory!

I've often wondered if the home gardener could find a way to flash
freeze produce with either dry ice or liquid nitrogen.. or if they'll
even sell the lay person liquid nitrogen in any form other than the
new "wart removal" aerosol! ;-) Wonder if there would be some sort
of a container that wouldn't shatter .. pour some liquid nitrogen into
an unwanted ice chest and "dip" whole peppers into the super frozen
vapor .. working quickly and realizing if you drop it.. leave it there
until later.. don't go reaching in after it with your hand! LOL

Home frozen broccoli just isn't real great, unless maybe if it is
chopped, otherwise it's kind of rubbery. blech. I like green beans
cooked up then frozen, frozen just blanched.. green crayons .. double
blech.

Janice