Tips on Checking for Bugs

They sell this light box that is very good for checking lettuce.

It’s much easier if your food is very fresh.

With Romaine you need to have the attitude that the outer leaves are only the wrapping for the lettuce and discard the first or second layers of leaves without even looking at them.

Then cut away about the lower third of the Romaine (that’s where bugs hang out) and discard.

No SJS, soaking is not a sephardic thing regarding vegetables. It is supposedly to loosen the bugs hold on the vegetables. I use romaine lettuce hearts, they are fairly clean. I usually check each leaf first, (the water droplets make it harder to check and I like the leaves dry. If I find then, I will wash the leaf under running water and gently brush the area where the bug is found. I would then re-check the leaf in the light.

regarding the use of strawberries, even soaking will not remove the bugs. I read somewhere, that a mashigaich, bought those big large first quality strawberrys (the Driscoll type) and they had soaked these beautiful strawberries and supposedly cleaned them very well. Bugs were found even after. It is understood that the bugs(thrips) maybe hiding under the seeds and are near impossible to remove. The only way to use strawberries is to peel them.

Regarding raspberries, I have not had fresh raspberries in ages. My mother had a raspberry bush in her backyard, one day while checking, I noticed tiny brown bugs(thrips) throughout the sections, unless you take each little tiny segment apart(therebye destroying the berry in the process) there is no possible way to eat them.

I have stopped buying and eating strawberries and have never purchased raspberries, because of my first hand account of finding the near impossible to remove bugs on them.

The OU put out a nice book on checking fruits and veggies. I have it and it’s helpful

I can just relate from my own experience. Without exaggeration, I have washed and checked thousands of heads of lettuce and scallions and other leafy vegetables over the years. I want to repeat – start with very fresh vegetables, it makes checking a lot easier and don’t be afraid to cut away and throw away. When you have leafy vegetables that are not totally fresh, then it can be hard to quickly determine leaf “rot” from what may have been a living bug.

With scallions:

Line up the scallion bottoms and do the same to the root, slicing them off slightly above where the root ends, with one motion.

Now slice of the greens just above and below where the scallion greens join together so that the joint is totally removed, and discard. The joint may be a hiding place that’s hard to check. Discard any leaves that are not totally green or fresh.

From the white lower part bulbs, peal off and discard the outer layer of scallion.

Take the upper bunch of scallion leaves which are now hollow tubes, and while holding loosely together in your fist, agitate briefly in slightly salty water. This procedure will clean your scallions and repeat usually once or twice until the water is totally clear (examine the water). Take leaves out of water and visually scan. You’re done.

Now throw the scallion bulbs into salty water and agitate in the water and repeat. You know have clean and kosher scallions.

Again, once you get the hang of the procedure, it goes fast.

Hi blubluh: To repeat, for vegetables that need checking – buy very fresh vegetables but DO NOT buy ORGANIC or from a farmers market; they are usually infested. BTW: I always assume that any leafy vegetable that I buy has bugs and go from there.

This is for both broccoli and cauliflower:

I put the florets into slightly salty water (you can use a few drops of liquid soap as well) and agitate vigorously. Repeat until water is clear (usually once or twice). Pass the florets under a spay of cold running water. Inspect a few thoroughly. You will have the cleanest and best tasting florets around. Peal the woody stems with a knife or peeler and you can eat what remains.

For strawberries: In truth, I have never found a bug in any of my strawberries. If you can, buy recognized brand strawberries and make sure the leaves are green and the berries firm like they were picked yesterday.

Put a few drops of soap into water and agitate. Repeat until there is no soap residue. Rinse and drain strawberries and inspect. Done.

Ames, I thought I would be smart and grow my own peppermint(NaNa) indoors. I grew them from seeds actually. Unfortunately, I somehow has spidermites on my mint and they were impossible to check.hey are very tiny, but they can be seen. Somehow in the potting mix, there were bugs. They have sprays to kill them, but I wanted them to be pesticide free. So I ended up dumping the plant.

yes, unless, maybe you can kill the bugs that are present in the soil. I did notice tiny bugs in the soil prior to planting, but thought they were there in the soil and would not come on the plants. I did’nt know they were spider mites at the time. they are very small black dots, maybe like the dot in the letter “i”. I have grown basil last year indoors and they were clean and didn’t have a problem with spidermites. Maybe you can somehow “sterelize” the soil, bye pouring boiling water to kill off any bugs, that might be around.

Sorry Ames,I never tried those pellets before, so I can not answer your question. I would suggest looking carefully to see anything moving. Maybe, you can zap the pellets in the Microwave, to kill any unwanted hitchhikers, then cool and use the pellets as needed. Avoid other household plants. Just today,i noticed spidermites on my mother’s gardenia plant. You can tell if there is some kind of web around the leaves, and tiny dots moving along them. Like I said they are teeny tiny and they stick to the leaves and stems very well and don’t come off with soaking, thereby making them very difficult to check.

I just lost my appetite, first time reading this thread.

~a~

Produce had no shailas years ago, because years ago we allowed the used of strong pesticides on our produce, to prevent these problems. Hmmm… poison in our produce

– bugs in our produce. I think I’ll stick to chocolate (oh wait – that’s a vegetable too! Dang, we can’t eat ANYTHING these days!) I’ll just have the fish.

Sorry to disapoint you Oomis1105 – some fish have worms in them so it’s no fish either.

Actually, back in the “olden days” there wasn’t much variety. I think with the advent of air travel and refrigeration, we have so many varieties of fruits and vegetables available to us from all corners of the world, year round. So with more variety in our diets, the more problems we have. Also, dried herbs after a year, are not an issue, though fresh is tastier, it is good to know we have substitutions available.

oomis: junk food is awesome! the end!

Perele, DRIED OUT???? EEEEEEWWWWWW!!!

~a~

jax, you do this ummmm just like someone I know, lol! But I’m 1000% sure you’re not him.

~a~

ames, oy vey! that’s so annoying.

~a~