Slicing Techniques

Melissa d’Arabian talks to a kitchen klutz about slicing techniques. I have to warn you – she cuts a piece of chicken, but everything else is non-meat.  Go Melissa! (She recently became a Seattle-ite. Woohoo!)

http://blog.seattlepi.com/video/bcplayer.asp?bcpid=1543292903&bctid=37938850001

Washing fruit and vegetables thoroughly

A few years ago, I laughed at a housemate who washed fruits with detergent. Well, the joke’s on me!

I’ve been eating fruit and veggies that I simply ran under the faucet for a few seconds, only recently realizing that I’ve been ingesting pesticide along with those precious vitamins and minerals!

Use a vinegar wash, preferably made of organic vinegar (Del Monte red wine vinegar is great; I don’t think it’s organic, but at least it doesn’t contain ascetic acid-any kind of vinegar is better than nothing!) and water. (Some sources say 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water. Some sources disagree on the soaking time. 15 minutes is what I heard from one source. However, I did that with eggplant and the skin came off!)

If it is a fruit with tough or coarse skin, like carrots, use a vegetable scrubber (it looks like a nail scrubber, but with a bigger surface area) to take away the dirt.  Most fruit will be OK with just the soak.

After soaking, wash off the vinegar with detergent and water.

I guarrantee, you will taste the difference!