How To Wash Farm-Fresh Produce featuring Full Circle Home

Millions of people become sick each year as a result of food contamination. Most people are aware that many animal products have the ability to cause foodborne illnesses, however this can also be true for fresh produce. While Farmbox brings you the best quality of fruits and vegetables available, washing your produce is a quick and easy habit to adopt that can help prevent any unwanted illnesses. And if there is anything that we have learned from COVID-19, it is that it is definitely worth it to incorporate small gestures centered around being more healthy into our daily lives.

Full Circle Home Collab

Fortunately, we have partnered up with our friends at Full Circle Home to make it easier for you to get your farm-fresh produce even more fresh! We’re offering first time FarmboxRx customers a Full Circle Veggie Brush that does an incredible job at brushing away any unwanted traces from the farm. You can use this convenient kitchen device to clean all firm produce from apples to zucchini. The brushes are recyclable and made from plant fibers, and yet the bristles are tough enough to remove dirt particles and get your produce squeaky clean! 

We recommend cleaning your produce as soon as you receive your Farmbox. That way you have one less step to do when you start preparing for meal time by cutting, cooking, or eating; your produce is all ready to go! Properly washing your produce ensures that no remaining bacteria is on your fruits and vegetables. Bacteria may linger on produce as a result of these natural foods growing in soil or as a result from transporting foods from the farm to your home. Don’t worry though, because we have two super simple produce washing methods for you to try out down below. Give them both a try, and once you discover your favorite method, washing produce will become like second nature (pun intended.)

At Farmbox, we do our best to make sure that you have the accessibility to fresh foods that you need to stay aligned to your health goals. Our fresh produce delivery boxes bring you a vibrant variety of fruits and vegetables delivered to your home. Choose between any of our boxes whether small, medium, or large, conventional or USDA-certified organic, and all-fruit, all-veggie, or mixed, for a produce box that fits your household’s needs. You’ll find in no time that having a box of healthy kitchen staples delivered on a weekly or biweekly basis will have you meeting and surpassing the daily recommended goal of at least 5 fruits and vegetable servings a day. Fuel your body and lifestyle with tasty, seasonal, farm to table food delivery, and watch how it will become more and more easy for your life to be infused with healthy decision making, all starting from the foods you eat.

Benefits of eating more fruits & veggies

We’ve all heard it before that eating more fruits and vegetables is good for the body, but how exactly? Well, each plant-based food, whether grown from the ground or hanging from a tree offers the body a wide variety of produce-specific vitamins and minerals. These are the nutrients that the body depends on to function properly. Not to mention, these are the nutrients that the brain needs to perform at a high level. When we eat healthy diets abundant in foods freshly grown from Mother Nature herself, human beings are capable of truly thriving, especially in a modern-day world where environmental pollutants are proving to be hazardous to our health. 

Not only are fruits and vegetables nourishing and healing for the body, but they also allow for a delicious opportunity to connect with nature. If you live in a busy, hectic city, you may tend to view opportunities to escape the concrete jungles and go into nature, whether that be to a closeby water source or the mountains, as a true treat for the mind, body, and soul. But you can actually “get closer to nature” by simply eating more natural foods. The body recognizes and appreciates natural foods because human beings have been eating them since the beginning of our existence. So by eating less packaged and processed foods, and more fresh fruits and vegetables, you are quite literally tasting nature. Yummy! 

Now let’s jump right into these two produce washing techniques featuring your Full Circle Veggie Brush. Remember that if you are a first-time FarmboxRx customer, you’ll get a FREE brush in your fresh produce box, so you can scrub away to clean produce. 

D.I.Y. Produce Wash

Method #1 Vinegar Soak

Begin with a clean sink or large bowl and fill it with cold water. Pour in 1 cup of white vinegar and add in your fruits and vegetables. Let them soak for 15 minutes while the vinegar removes the bacteria. Take your Full Circle Veggie Brush and use it to scrub away any dirt or residue from the produce. (It works particularly well on root vegetables or pieces of produce with thick skin. On softer, more fragile produce pieces such as peaches or tomatoes, scrub with a more gentle hand.)  

Drain the sink and rinse the produce with running cold water. Dry each piece individually with a clean kitchen towel or lay out all of the produce to allow for natural air drying. When dry, transfer your produce to your refrigerator storage bins. 

Method #2 Produce Spray

For a natural, antibacterial, antimicrobial produce spray, mix together ½ cup water, ½ cup apple cider vinegar, and ½ cup fresh lemon juice in an empty spray bottle. Shake vigorously before each use, and to clean your fruits and vegetables, apply the spray to each piece of produce and let sit for 10 minutes. Then take your Full Circle Veggie Brush and use it to brush away any remaining dirt or residue from your fruits and vegetables. 

Then rinse with cold water, dry thoroughly, and store in a dry place or in your refrigerator.