How clean is clean

Was at a friends house---- he and I were at the kitchen table reviewing and lending our thoughts on the latest
important decisions that had to be made by the folks in Washington.  We just happened to be sipping two bourbon Manhattans at the time, makes decision making easier. 
 
At the same time his bride of over 50 years was getting dinner ready------she was scrubbing the baking potatoes with a brush and soap. 
 
I didn't see that in Julie and Julia or on The Frugel Gourmet or the Galloping Gourmet  or any place else-----
I didn't want to embarass the lovely lady but i didn't eat the skin that night. 
 
Isn't that a little much? ---especially for a guy who used to throw a mickey into the open fire.
 
Surely you can't be serious.
I am serious and don't call me Shirley.
 
 
 
 
 

Potatoes are #6 on the list of most contaminated foods, 79% have unsafe level of pesticides.   Scrubbing with brush is pretty normal, with soap no...   but you do use that same soap to wash your dishes and you don't freak out eating off a plate.     I doubt it does much to reduce pesticides, probably best just to peel it, of course you loose alot of fiber that way.

I'd prefer to see this though than getting potatoes from a restaurant that's not in foil...    i've watched them at Texas Roadhouse take the potatoes out of a field bag and put directly on a baking sheet.    I never eat the skin at a restaurant because i know how lazy restaurant employees are.

bwave


Potatoes are #6 on the list of most contaminated foods, 79% have unsafe level of pesticides.   Scrubbing with brush is pretty normal, with soap no...   but you do use that same soap to wash your dishes and you don't freak out eating off a plate.     I doubt it does much to reduce pesticides, probably best just to peel it, of course you loose alot of fiber that way.

I'd prefer to see this though than getting potatoes from a restaurant that's not in foil...    i've watched them at Texas Roadhouse take the potatoes out of a field bag and put directly on a baking sheet.    I never eat the skin at a restaurant because i know how lazy restaurant employees are.

Restaurant packed potatoes are already washed.  Although light rinsing should be in order.   But field packed potatoes, the dirt would be very evident.

I wash a potato with a SS scrubby.  This will darn near peal it.

Heck,  I rinse them under running  water and pop them into the oven........I am still alive  and everyone that I have served baked potaotes to   is  still alive!

A lot of years ago we were the unwilling recipients of a dozen or so wild ducks full of shot and feathers. I innocently mentioned to my mother that we had all these ducks and asked if she'd like to come and help eat them . Gail and I stayed up half the night plucking feathers from the ducks, prying out lead shot, and generally mutilating  their skins.  Mom  showed up the next day  with her sister, a lovely but domineering and "take-charge" type woman.  Aunt Peg effectively barred us from our own kitchen,  filled our kitchen sink with soapy water and proceeded to scrub the ducks with a stiff brush -inside and out. 

The ducks were stuffed with something or other, roasted and served. I could not get the thought of all that soap out of my mind, so they tasted soapy to me, and besides they were dry tough and gamey - our one and only encounter with wild fowl.

Cheers, John 
 

I recall that my sons' Scoutmaster was insistent on keeping dish soap away from anything the boys cooked.  He claimed that eating soap would make you ill. 

I don't have a Boy Scout Handbook handy, but the warning may have come from there.

  Personally, I use a solution of 200 pmm bleach water solution with a green scrubbie. It kills any parasites and other nasties and gets rid of any residual dirt. It is well within the guidlines set by most health departments.

  Oil the spud in question and salt add pepper liberally, wrap in foil and cook at 400 for one hour or until soft.

  JMHO

  David O.

Didn't your Mother ever wash your mouth out with soap, Ivory as I recall, for saying some "Bad Words"? Most kids survived the experience!

As long as they were rinsed well there should be no problem.
Heck, they now sell "Vegetable Wash" Compounds in the Supermarkets to clean Veggies. They're all chemicals!
http://www.veggie-wash.com/?gclid=CPG1zpG7g6MCFQ8mbAod0ydnZQ
 
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/00/001127b.cfm

Hi I am with boyardee65!  I am so obsessed with cleanliness that when I come home from the grocery store I fill my kitchen sink with hot soapy water and an eye dropper of bleach and gently wipe off all the plastic bags of lunchmeat and cheese and produce bags.  I also do a final wipe down with a plain dish cloth with just plain clean water.  I shudder to think of all the germs and bacteria in the grocery carts and check out conveyor belt.  Think of all that raw poultry and meat juice oozing out and dripping in the grocery cart.  My whole family thinks I am crazy.

blue heaven


Hi I am with boyardee65!  I am so obsessed with cleanliness that when I come home from the grocery store I fill my kitchen sink with hot soapy water and an eye dropper of bleach and gently wipe off all the plastic bags of lunchmeat and cheese and produce bags.  I also do a final wipe down with a plain dish cloth with just plain clean water.  I shudder to think of all the germs and bacteria in the grocery carts and check out conveyor belt.  Think of all that raw poultry and meat juice oozing out and dripping in the grocery cart.  My whole family thinks I am crazy.

  Blue Heaven, You should never wipe anything that has been sterilized with bleach. It is recommended that you allow said item to air dry. I am not obsessed with cleanliness but I do want to remove as much of the bad stuff that I can.

  JMHO

  David O.

Gotta go with Greymo----I've been eating them, dirt and all, for 100 years and i ain't dead yet---well i didn't get around to looking in the obit column yet this morning.

Seafarer John-----General Black Jack Pershing's grandson Jack, a big hunter type guy, was my next door neighbor for a few years, and he gave me a couple (a brace) of partridges he had shot out of the air.

I saw that they were loaded with buckshot so I took them to my butcher and asked him to do the hard work of getting them ready to cook.  He tooked me into throwing them out and buying a chicken. 
Thank you Frank Perdue.

I rinse all my spuds before they go into the fridge and then again when they come out-----and if the baking at 400 degrees doesn't kill any varmints attached then those buggers  get eaten right along with the skin.   

Here's lookin' at you kid----down the hatch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A rinse and a pick of the large soil deposits on a baker works for me. I always eat the skins....I never order a baker in a restaurant, they're always disappointing.

My father raised many veggies at our summer house, he'd pull a carrot out of the ground spit on it, wipe it on his pants and eat it. He fared well for many years.

chewingthefat


My father raised many veggies at our summer house, he'd pull a carrot out of the ground spit on it, wipe it on his pants and eat it. He fared well for many years.

That was home grown, not commercially grown. BIG difference!

blue heaven


Hi I am with boyardee65!  I am so obsessed with cleanliness that when I come home from the grocery store I fill my kitchen sink with hot soapy water and an eye dropper of bleach and gently wipe off all the plastic bags of lunchmeat and cheese and produce bags.  I also do a final wipe down with a plain dish cloth with just plain clean water.  I shudder to think of all the germs and bacteria in the grocery carts and check out conveyor belt.  Think of all that raw poultry and meat juice oozing out and dripping in the grocery cart.  My whole family thinks I am crazy.

Your Whole Family may be right!

My Blue Heaven-------there are all kinds of nuts running loose out there-------just because you are one of them is not a sin---think good  thoughts and you can still go to heaven.----

I had a nutty neighbor who bought a sofa -----picked out the most expensive material for the upholstery--looked great !

Bought slip covers to cover the expensive upholstery ---God forbid it should get dirty.

Bought plastic covers for the slip covers---God forbid they should get dirty.

Bought throws to cover the plastic covers which were hot and slippery---------

The sofa was 3" higher than any I had ever sat on---and I made sure I had clean jeans on.

She invited a group of neighbors for dinner-----6 to be exact----people who went through an examination at the entry---
please put your coat there, and your hat there and your UZI over in the corner--------Dinner was good, but in-between it and dessert she had us all lift our feet while she vacuumed under the table.  

We lived next to each other for 25 years and it was the only time she had guests.

There are nuts running around out there Blue Heaven---hang on to your hat, your brains might be attached.





 

Do things in moderation.

I do agree about washing fruits and veggies from the market. Not sure I would use soap per se, but they should be cleaned up. As for those out of your garden, wash off the dirt, otherwise, much safer to consume. 

 

Unless you have a male dog.

   I would rather perish from the microbes of a crispy baked potato, 
    Then live forever with dishwater spuds....  
           Was that poetry?
    

I would rather perish from the microbes of a crispy baked potato, Then live forever with dishwater spuds.... Was that poetry?

 
 I believe it was.............

Strictly speaking, I think to speak of a male dog is redundant, though a usage often heard.  Male canine is correct I suppose, but wordy.   Whatever the gender of the household animals, and even if there are none,  I counsel careful washing.