I remember having a lovely lunch in a restaurant by Fisherman’s Warf in San Fransisco. Everything was perfect: wonderful view of the ocean, sterling service and then I felt a crunch of sand in the spinach Florentine. How could such a high caliber kitchen fail to thoroughly wash those greens? It happened years ago but I remember it vividly.
There are quick and simple steps to keep a similar memory from being associated with your precious cooking. You go the extra mile to have quality greens, whether from your own garden or from the farmers’ market. Then you prepare those greens with specially chosen seasonings. There is no need to mess up the picture with a bit of grit hiding in those greens.
A greens bath may seem like a lot of work initially, especially if you are accustomed to reaching into a bag of pre-washed greens from the grocery store. After a couple of rounds with this cleaning method, you will be an expert and think nothing of the few minutes it takes to ensure squeaky clean greens.
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Great tips! I once remember being served spring cabbage and gritty dirt – lovely!
Nice sharing of tips..I will do this in our garden..
I do the same, but in one side of the sink (after cleaning it, of course). For especially dirty greens, like spinach is sometimes, I sometimes have to wash the greens two or three times.
I used to work in a fast food restaurant and I noticed that they don’t thoroughly clean their food. I really like the tips you gave here. If only restaurants would wash greens that thoroughly.
I usually soak my greens in water with salt too. And then rinse with clear water.
I always use to clean the greens in Hot Water and clean it well but I like your tips and will definitely follow them.
I stumbled here because mom wouldn’t answer the phone. I now know how to clean my greens thanks. I will continue to follow thank you.
Thanks for the tips in thoroughly rinsing greens. I for one am for this practice because it pays to eat clean food.
Nice tips. I usually don’t do this but thinking about it now that you mention it. Just lazy about washing everything off I guess. I have just been doing it in the kitchen sink before preparing the veggies.
you’re right the veggies are much nicer clean and well cooked (unless it’s a salad) I normally just run them under a tap but this sounds much better plan.
Thanks
We do this too, though i haven’t found that it gets any faster or easier with time… It’s my least favorite job after harvesting the greens. I recently posted about squash here: http://wordsaremyworld.com/blog-2/
There is nothing more disgusting to think you have cleaned your veggies thoroughly and then see a snail or something else in it. It cannot be stated enough that you need to clean it!