There is nothing as appealing as a Mexican market, the fruit and veggie stalls, the sounds, the colours, the rhyming of the vendors and the rhythm of everyone going about their business. Chances are you have ventured to one of these places and couldn’t resist to buy some avocados, tomatoes, and mangoes, but… STOP! Do not think for a minute that you can immediately bite that ready-to-eat apple, chances are all these fruits and veggies are not clean, and some of them might even be watered with sewage waters (sorry for bursting your bubble), but despair not, we are going to explain how to clean all your produce so that you can enjoy all flavours without any tummy ache.
In Mexico there are 3 different types of veggie contamination that happen daily, the unclean waters used for irrigation, the pesticides thrown throughout its growth, and lastly, the handling of the produce while it makes its way to the mercado or fruteria where you will be purchasing it. There are a lot of scary diseases that can come from your produce and it can land you in the hospital, (if you are in need of a doctor don’t forget to read our list of English speaking Drs in CDMX). Unfortunately, if you rinse your veggies with only water (no matter how clean it is) you won’t be able to get rid of the bacteria or larvae that might be living on your lettuce. Remember, there are still lots of different preventable diseases that are common occurrence in Mexico such as, typhoid, salmonellosis, cholera and e coli.
The best way to avoid any unpleasant surprises is to use an antibacterial product in a soak solution for anything that you consume. We do need to say, that if you’re super extra lazy, you might get away with only washing anything with a skin (watermelons, mangoes, cucumber) or anything that you will be cooking but you must absolutely disinfect (soak products) that you will be eating raw. Another important tip for whenever you’re eating out, try to avoid any raw food like salads unless you trust the establishment. If you’re unsure but can’t resist the tacos, the best way to keep safe is to only eat cooked food, and avoid cilantro, onion, salads and any green salsa (traditionally made with raw coriander) to be as safe as one can be. All in all, if you’re a responsible adult, and want to be extra safe, everything fresh in the plant world that passes through your kitchen should be soaked in an antibacterial solution.
There are a ton of products in the market, that can be found in almost every little town in Mexico and even more in Mexico city. The two most common are Microdyn and Bacdyn, normally found in the veggie section of your local supermarket. Nowadays you have more “green” options, like Biocitrics, Citro Organics, etc, and if you’re more old school you can use Chlorine but you will need to be careful to not make your veggies toxic and you will need to rinse it (which is not the case of Microdyn). Side note, for some reason the smaller the bottle the more concentrated the product so you will need to use less, - I always get the smallest size of Microdyn that requires 8 drops per litre for about 10mins -. Another quick tip, if you have prepared a big bucket of water to soak your veggies, know that you can reuse it, as long as there is not a lot of visible dirt in it, ionized silver, the active ingredient does not get “used up” with successive soakings.
If you want to clean as well from fertilisers or fungicides your best bet is to rinse your produce with some white vinegar, it will also help take out some of the wax that they add to apples, peppers and eggplants to make them shiny.
Some guidelines on how to clean your fav fruits/veggies
Any leafy veggie (lettuce, spinach, watercress, coriander, parsley, kale, endives, cabbage, radishes, etc) SOAK IT! Some of these veggies have reportedly been watered with sewage water. They need to be thoroughly disinfected and we recommend that you only eat them in trusted establishments or your home.
Berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries) SPRAY IT! These veggies don’t welcome chorine nor disinfectants so your best bet is to spray them with a vinegar solution and let it rest for about 10mins. Do this just before eating them because they don’t’ take kindly to the water. My mum used to freeze strawberries, however while researching for this post I could not find any scientific evidence to back this method.
Root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, beets, turnips, etc.) SCRUB IT! Thoroughly, first to take the dirt away, and lastly because, since they are more resistant veggies, their farm-to-table handling is not careful.
We would strongly recommend you wash and disinfect all your produce but if you can’t be bothered, at least take particular attention to these 3 groups that are normally the most problematic and the ones that can quickly land you in the.. hmm… well… bathroom or even worse hospital!