Washing and Prepping CSA Box Veggies

If you have seen any of my "What's in the Box?" posts, then you know that every week for the last 6 weeks, we've gotten a huge box of fresh veggies. 

No pre-washed, pre-bagged produce here.  Everything we get is straight from the field.  It takes a bit of work to get it ready to go into the fridge, but it's worth it to keep things at their peak for as long as possible.  

These are the steps I take to wash and prep the produce each week. 

With only 2 weeks of the autumn season left, I'm really writing this for myself so I can remember the process I've developed when spring rolls back around.

Step 1 

Open the box and lay veggies on counter, remove any hitchhikers(bugs)

Step 2

Arrange artistically and take a picture for blog entry.

Step 3 

Sort

this fall, 3 categories have worked well

A-no washing needed prior to storage:   very clean sweet potatoes, onions, etc.  Sorry there's no pic, I already put the sweet potatoes away. 

B-needs washing before storage

C-requires extra processing before washing root veggies, corn if not to be cooked in husk, etc.

Step 4

Put up items in Category A

Step 5

Process items in Catagory C

For example:  cut tops off of root vegetables.  If tops are edible, set them aside with other greens to be washed.

Step 6

Thoroughly wash veggies starting with cleanest and working to dirtiest, by spraying with veggie cleaner, rubbing,  scrubbing, or soaking.

Rinse. 

Spin greens in salad spinner to remove extra water. 

Set on towel to dry.

Step 7

Store.