Insect-Free: A Guide to Home Vegetable Inspection: Berries (4 of 4)

[Music] we've arrived to our last topic of discussion berries blueberries raspberries blackberries strawberries let's start with the easy stuff blueberries cultivated gr a blueberries need to be washed could be used right after washing with had any inspection blackberries and raspberries are a topic of lengthly discussion we simply don't have time with this DVD to address that topic perhaps in a future demonstration let's talk about an item that's widely used a strawberry here we are strawberries a dessert favorite a fruit platter staple how do we clean them well certainly till two years ago the issue with strawberries were [Music] aphids thrips a different type of insect called spidermite and what we discovered is that if you take your strawberries you're filling that pan as we Illustrated before you fill it up you put that soapy solution in it you drop your strawberries in it cutting the tops off because those little insects could be nestled right under the tops a common question is there any way to retain the strawberry top perhaps for aesthetic purposes that's something which is a possibility but is a little bit detailed and being able to clean it with a vegetable brush and wash it it is quite involved and we won't address this at this moment okay we're continuing to cut the strawberries very carefully watching that there is no hole being made over here had we sliced this another eighth of an inch we would have a hole in the strawberry the hole the strawberry means that should there have been a a strawberry insect on the outer surface it could have now migrated into the hole what do you do with such a berry slice it in half here's your hole place it into the [Music] water and we leave it in the pan let it soak for two minutes and then we agitate the strawberry we add agitate the strawberry in the Soapy solution the agitation helping loosen all the forign matter on the surface of the strawberry now we're ready to go to the next [Music] step we have a strong St of water coming out of your foret and then we take each individual strawberry starting from the pointy part of the strawberry We Begin washing the strawberry we use our fingers to guide the water gently going over all the areas of the strawberry surface while the water is cascading down upon the surface is a strawberry turning it around and doing the same we should be spending a proximately 10 seconds 10 to 15 seconds on each strawberry and just going smoothly with the same Sur process with your fingers going over the strawberry and continuing to do that for the entire amount of strawberry soaking [Music] as I mentioned till two years ago the concern was only these three insects the might the aphid or the thrips but then came along two years ago a strain of thrips called the thrips larva this thrips larvae was a very small worm which embedded itself into the hole into the very tiny hole of the seed and then the cerous agencies were challenged with cleaning strawberries properly so in addition to the rigorous form of rinsing as we just showed the Orthodox Union added a step and after the berries have been washed following the procedure that we just showed the berries are dried and then they're scanned visually just to make sure that there's nothing on the surface of the berry there are other agencies that dealt differently with the strawberry but this is the policy of the Orthodox unit [Music] after you've examined the surface of the strawberry you could just proceed and use as please [Music] one important note the washing process that we just showed you the soaping the rinsing certainly should be avoided on chabis if one has any question and whether it's permitted to check vegetables or anything Associated to the checking process you should speak to your local R and he'll give you the guidance of the dos and do Nots in regard to checking vegetables okay now we are a little bit more uh well prepared for our tasks in the kitchen preparing the produce for our families the is quoted as saying when someone were marked after they read his magnumopus so now that we learned you're safe for we can't talk it's all Lush and Hara so to this the holy and saintly responded it is not now that you can't talk it is precisely now that you've gone through my safer that you know exactly what to say and what not to say our goal in this presentation was not to limit the use of your produce was rather to empower you to enjoy the tremendous Bounty of the to give you the methods and to give you the knowhow on how to wash how to check what to look for this way avoiding any potential any potential Torah prohibitions of ingesting an insect we've empowered you give classes teach your children get your husbands involved get everybody involved in teaching them use this wonderful opportunity that the ous provided you as a additional support in showing what you have to do and finally to quote the words of the AER in his chuva you certainly now that you know what to look for you certainly will be careful because the primary sanctity and Holiness of Claus is specifically tied to the one's observance and one's careful avoiding the ingestion of insects now just for one concluding remark discoveries are always being made Mas are always being spoken to in the field the area of basus of vegetable inspection is a fluid area it could change it's Dynamic you're now the one that understands the issues read up on them get updates from your cashis agencies speak to your Rabon to see if there's anything new from time to time the information discussed in today's presentation have been Incorporated in some very wonderful Publications one such publication is the OU guide to checking fruits vegetables and berries the editor-in chief Rabbi D Biser of the Orthodox Union make sure that this is a item that comes into your homes because now that you have seen this presentation you know that standing in the kitchen over these vegetables is no longer a mundane act it is a holy and sacred Mission which you ladies and gentlemen in your kitchens now have been given you stand there you prepare but you're really being involved in a holy Mission thank you [Music] m [Music]