How to wash fruits and vegetables

The evidence here is much simpler than the product aisle suggests. Cool running water plus mechanical friction — your hands, or a brush on firm produce — removes surface residue and soil about as well as anything you can buy. Soap is not recommended for produce and can leave its own residue. Commercial produce washes have not demonstrated an advantage worth the cost.

What follows is the method that actually differs by food.

Leafy greens: swish, then lift

Spinach, kale, romaine, and lettuce trap grit in ways a rinse under the tap will not reach. Separate the leaves, submerge them in a bowl of cool water, agitate for twenty or thirty seconds, then lift the leaves out rather than pouring the bowl through a colander. Pouring tips the settled grit straight back onto the leaves.

Curly kale is the worst offender — the ruffles hold soil that survives almost any rinse. Dry thoroughly afterwards; dressing will not cling to wet leaves and water speeds up spoilage in the fridge.

Berries: rinse at the last moment

Wash strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries immediately before eating, never before storing. Wet berries mould within a day.

Rinse in a colander with gentle agitation. Do not soak — blackberries and raspberries turn to mush and absorb water into the drupelets. The dusty grey bloom on blueberries is a natural wax the fruit produces itself; it is a freshness sign, not residue, and rinsing removes it.

Grapes: wash off the stem

Residues concentrate where the berry meets the stem, which is exactly the spot a quick rinse misses. Pull grapes off the stem into a colander and agitate with your hands for thirty seconds.

Waxed produce: rub harder

Apples, pears, and many cucumbers are coated with wax after harvest, and the coating holds residue more stubbornly than bare skin. Rub under running water for a full twenty to thirty seconds rather than a quick pass. If the cucumber skin feels slick, it is waxed — scrub it or peel it. Unwaxed English and Persian cucumbers only need a rinse.

Peeling removes more than washing does, but on apples it also removes most of the fiber and nearly all the quercetin, which is a poor trade for a small reduction.

Fuzzy skin: friction matters more

Peaches hold more surface residue in their fuzz than smooth-skinned fruit does. Rub firmly under running water. If you are cooking them anyway, blanching and slipping the skins removes the question entirely.

Melons and anything you cut through: scrub the outside

Nobody eats a watermelon rind, but the knife drags whatever is on the surface straight through the flesh. This is the same mechanism behind several documented foodborne outbreaks from cut melon, and it matters more for pathogens than for pesticides. Scrub the rind before cutting.

The same logic applies to mango, pineapple, avocado, and citrus: rinse and dry the outside before the knife goes in.

Firm root vegetables: brush, don’t peel

Scrub potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes with a vegetable brush under running water. The layer just under a carrot’s skin holds a disproportionate share of its carotenoids, so peeling costs you more than it saves.

Mushrooms: rinse is fine

The old advice that mushrooms absorb water like sponges is overstated. A brief rinse is fine. What actually matters is drying them before they hit the pan, or they steam instead of browning.

Things washing cannot do

Washing addresses surface residue. It does not remove systemic compounds — those taken up through the roots and distributed through the plant’s tissue. No rinse, soak, or spray reaches those, which is one reason the organic-versus-conventional comparison exists at all.

Washing also does not sterilise. It reduces microbial load; it does not eliminate it. For high-risk groups, cooking is the reliable step.

The one-line version

Cool running water, thirty seconds, use your hands. Dry properly. Skip the sprays.

Last reviewed 2026-05.