EditorThe only natural way to fight against the pandemic is to build our immunity and make ourselves stronger. While you may be including multivitamins as a part of your daily routine, it is essential to eat a meal that is well balanced and consists of fruits and vegetables. Natural produce gives your body multiple nutrients that help in fighting against the virus and keeping you healthy.
Chef Kunal Kapur adds, “Always remember that fruits and vegetables travel long distances before they are found in local sabzi mandis, retail stores or are delivered home. To ensure our safety, we must wash them in a fruit and vegetable wash like Nimwash, known to remove the Covid-19 virus and other germs and pesticides from the surface of fruits and vegetables. If they are being eaten raw, cleaning them is a crucial step in the fight against diseases like diarrhea as well.”
He also lists down the ways to keep your natural produce safe during these unprecedented times and mentions the right way to store them:
- Sorting- As soon as you get the vegetables home, sort them out, see which ones are slightly spoilt or on the verge of getting spoilt. Store them separately and use them first
- Cleaning- After sorting them, clean them with a vegetable and fruit cleaner like Nimwash. This will ensure that the germs and pesticides found on your natural produce are washed away before they hit the refrigerator or are stored elsewhere. If you don’t have time for soaking them beforehand, ensure that they are washed with a vegetable and fruit wash before they are cooked/consumed
- Don’t wash natural produce after chopping them- Most people are unaware that vegetables and fruits need to be washed before they are chopped. However, if they are cleaned after they are cut, the water washes away the nutrients.
- Storage: It is recommended to store fruits and vegetables separately
- Green leafy vegetables- After rinsing them, wrap them in a paper napkin and store them in a plastic container or a sealed plastic bag. Remove the wilted or rotten leaves before you store them. A lot of us tend to use the same plastic container after the greens are used, ensure that they are washed after every use, dried, and then stored inside again
- Tomatoes- If the tomatoes are ripe, store them in a refrigerator. If not, store them in a basket or mesh bags that allow the flow of air. Ensure that they don’t get direct sunlight
- Cabbage- A cabbage can be stored as-is in the refrigerator if its head is intact. If the head has been removed, store them in an air-tight bag. While using it, shave the darkened part (as it would be oxidized), and they are suitable to be used in any dish of your choice.
- Broccoli and Cauliflower- Clean these vegetables as soon as you get them home as they are known to be infested with worms and other pathogens. After washing them, you can either dry them whole or divide them into florets. The latter is easier to store. Remember to dry them on a cloth and cover another fabric on it, so all the moisture can get absorbed. Do not dry them in direct sunlight. Otherwise, the produce will get spoilt.
- Mango- Store mangoes in a dark place till the time they aren’t ripened. Post which, they can be refrigerated. Wash or soak Mangoes once they are ripened. Remember to keep them away from vegetables. Otherwise, the other produce will ripen faster than required.
- Citrus fruits- Store citrus fruits in the refrigerator or outside in an open mesh bag
- Apple and other berries- Wash apples and other berries only when they will be consumed. If they contact water earlier, they may get spoiled.
With the unparalleled situations that we find ourselves in, we need to be careful of what we consume and how we consume. Hence, following the proper methods of cleaning with Nimwash and storing it can help benefit our body.
Editor
Meghana Harikumar
