Eat healthy: Some easy ways to detox vegetables

It's a known fact that fruits and vegetables available in the market contain some amounts of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.. As farm produce free of toxic substances are hard to obtain, people are forced to buy such harmful items. So it is important that certain measures should be taken to remove toxins from vegetables before cooking. The following methods are used to detox some vegetable items.

Cauliflower

Discard the leaves and thick stalks and separate each floret of the cauliflower. Dip the florets for 10 minutes in vinegar solution (20 ml vinegar in one litre water) or salt solution (20 g dissolved in one litre water). Take it out and wash repeatedly. It can be stored in plastic containers in a refrigerator.

Cabbage

Before cleaning the cabbage - of white or violet variety - discard three or four of the leaves outside. Wash several times with water. Wipe with a clean cotton cloth before storing in a refrigerator.

Coriander leaves

Cut and discard the portion near the roots and wrap the coriander leaves with a tissue paper or thin cotton cloth. Store it in a refrigerator. Before cooking, take it out of the refrigerator, dip in vinegar or salt solution for 10 minutes and wash several times.

Carrot, drumstick and radish

Wash the vegetables repeatedly with water. Before cooking, peel the vegetables and wash again. Before keeping in the refrigerator, wipe the vegetables and wrap them using a cotton cloth.

Curry leaves, mint leaves, capsicum, green chilli and tomato

Dip the curry or mint leaves in vinegar solution, tamarind solution or ginger paste solution for 10 minutes. The tamarind solution can be prepared by crushing 20 g tamarind in one litre water while the ginger paste solution can be made by dissolving two table-spoons of ginger paste available in packets from the market in one litre water. Wash the leaves repeatedly. Keep it overnight in a vessel with sieves to drain away water. Either use for cooking immediately or store in plastic containers in a refrigerator wrapped with a tissue paper or thin cotton cloth.

Long beans, cucumber, spinach, celery, brinjal and lady’s finger

Wash the vegetables with water, cleaning them gently with a scrub pad. Keep it immersed in a vinegar solution, tamarind solution or ginger paste for 10 minutes. Afterwards, wash several times thoroughly. The roots and nearby portion of spinach should be discarded before cleaning. Moreover, spinach and celery need not be scrubbed.

Ginger

Wash ginger thoroughly several times with water and keep it in a vessel with sieves. Take the item for cooking only after all the water has been drained away. While storing in a refrigerator, wipe with cloth and wrap with thin cotton cloth. Before cooking, peel the ginger and wash it once again.