Washing Produce

[jamie777]

What's the best way to wash produce.

Can I use apple cider vinager?

Thanks,

Jamie

[lovemyGreys]

Hi Jamie i use normal tap water, but i have included a link for you to read through scroll down to the bottom

 

http://birdsnways.com/articles/efsep4.htm

 

From what i read it can be added to drinking water, but its not something i personally use.

[jamie777]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you...

 

-Jamie

[nevjoe]

Jamie, Water is fine. There is a difference with veggies and fruits when cleaning. Most fruits are best peeled, but most veggies can be blanched. If you don't know how to do it, I'll just tell you how I do it.

 

First, get a big bowl and fill it with ice, and add water to it so it becomes ice cold. Bring a pot of water to a heavy boil. Add veggies and let stay about 30 to 40 seconds, and then strain them, add them to the ice bath, till cold. This will keep much longer in the frig also. Remember, you're not cooking them you're blanching them. All Bacteria will be killed.

 

 

Joe<br><br>Post edited by: nevjoe, at: 2007/11/21 03:17

[jamie777]

Great thank you very much. I will do that. that's very easy advice.

-Jamie

[Kibibi]

Does anyone use Grepefruit Seed Extract? Here's a link describing it.

http://www.herbalremedies.com/gseliqcon2oz.html

That is what my breeder recommended years ago when I first purchased my Grey.

I like Joe's blanching method; I think I'll try it.

[chapala]

Re GSE (grapefruit seed extract), the moderators at Feeding Feathers forum (Yahoo forum), an excellent source of advice on feeding parrots of all species, recommend AGAINST any use of GSE in the food. OK for cleaning cages. It does have antibacterial action, and the theory is that it disturbs the intestinal flora by killing off good bacteria. If you rinsed the prodouce very well after soaking briefly in a GSE solution, that probably would be fine.

 

As far as disinfecting produce, since we live in Mexico where not all crops are grown with clean water, we disinfect everything for ourselves and the birds. There is a iodine/colloidal silver solution sold here for that purpose, and the vegetables soak in water with a bit of solution added for 10 minutes, then rinsed well.

 

I personally would not blanch most vegetables because some enzymes and vitamins would be affected. I serve most vegetables raw. It's fine to steam or lightly cook carrots and sweet potatoes, since Vit. A is not water soluble and not lost in the cooking as are many vitamins and enzymes. I do however give Kali a small piece of lightly cooked broccoli now and again, but most of the greens he gets daily are raw.

[danmcq]

This is a very interesting topic.

 

Lots of great information and ideas from everyone.

 

Thanksa for all the good posts. :-)