What household preparation step might draw out water-soluble pesticide residues from certain vegetables?
Blanching the vegetables.
When preparing certain vegetables that might carry water-soluble pesticide residues, a practical method that can help reduce intake is blanching. Blanching involves briefly immersing the food item, such as vegetables, in very hot water before stopping the process, often followed by immediate cooling. This brief exposure to hot water creates a temperature gradient that can effectively draw out certain water-soluble compounds lodged near or just below the surface layer of the vegetable tissue into the surrounding water. While this technique is beneficial for water-soluble contaminants, its effectiveness is highly contingent upon the specific chemical properties of the pesticide residue present on that particular crop.
