As I’m sure you already guessed, the major problem with conventional produce is it’s pesticide residue. Most farmer dump ridiculous amount of highly toxic substances on their crops to keep insects at bay. And because of this, every time we make the seemingly healthy choice of ordering a salad (or fruit salad) we run the risk of exposing ourselves to carcinogenic and mutagenic chemicals. Nice, right?

Luckily, we have a bit more protection when preparing our own meals. First off, I would recommend buying organic produce as much as possible, especially if the item is listed below. This list contains the foods which are known to have the highest concentration of pesticide residue:

Celery
Peaches
Apples
Blueberries
Nectarines
Spinach
Bell Peppers
Kale
Cherries
Potatoes
Grapes
Carrots
Pears
Tomatoes

But what if you can’t afford to buy organic or just can’t seem to find a store that sells it? The next best thing to do is to soak your produce in a pesticide wash which is designed to remove all pesticide residue from your fruits and vegetables. Now you can go ahead and spend money on a bottle of this stuff (it isn’t cheap) or you can use the simple recipe I’m about to share and make your own.

I heard from a highly trusted source that hydrogen peroxide removes 99% of pesticide residue in about 20-30 minutes. So go pick up a bottle of food grade (3%) hydrogen peroxide and add about ½ cup of it to about a gallon of water. Dump the mixture in a pot and soak your produce in there for 30 minutes. Afterwards, rinse the water off and you’re good to go.

Another quick tip: Certain foods (apples, for instance) are usually coated with wax before they’re sent off to the supermarket.  A waxy coating will prevent hydrogen peroxide from doing its job so it’s best to add a few tablespoons of a wax removing fruit/vegetable wash (can be found at Whole Foods, for instance) to a pot of hot water and let the produce soak for a few minutes before adding the hydrogen peroxide. The combo of the wash and hot water will remove the wax so the hydrogen peroxide can do the rest.

So keep on soaking those veggies and hopefully you’lll avoid an embarrassing future mutation. Remember guys, your wives will not give you any sympathy when you have a 3rd arm hanging off your forehead. If anything, they’ll just use it as an excuse to make you do more chores. 

I’ll be popping my head out again soon with more tips and tactics. Stay tuned and have a kick-ass week.

-Jay