Use garlic when washing raw vegetables; it is highly effective at removing bacteria.

It turns out garlic has these effects.

Not only garlic, but strong spices like cinnamon, mustard, and ginger also have similar effects.

My second child is suffering from enteritis...

From now on, I will wash fresh vegetables using garlic.

 

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Washing raw vegetables with garlic-infused water can reduce the number of harmful bacteria more effectively than plain water./Photo=Clipart Korea

 

 

Garlic is mostly added to Korean dishes to eliminate the fishy or off odors of other ingredients and to enhance the depth of flavor. However, garlic can also be helpful when washing vegetables outside of cooking.

 

Garlic-infused water reduces harmful bacteria by over 10,000.

By using antimicrobial foods such as garlic or wasabi to wash vegetables, the number of harmful bacteria such as food poisoning bacteria can be reduced by up to 93%. In fact, the Microbial Management Team at the Seoul Metropolitan Government Institute of Public Health and Environment confirmed that washing agricultural products with water containing garlic, ginger, green tea, cinnamon, or wasabi results in a greater reduction of harmful bacteria compared to washing with plain water. The research team observed how much the food poisoning bacteria Bacillus cereus and Salmonella are reduced through water washing on raw vegetables that are eaten immediately without heating. Bacillus cereus is a bacteria that causes vomiting or diarrhea-type food poisoning.

 

Out of 108 vegetable samples, Bacillus cereus was detected in 28 cases (26%). Among these, Bacillus cereus exceeding the legally permissible limit was found in 7 cases. Legally, fresh convenience foods are allowed to contain no more than 1,000 Bacillus cereus bacteria per gram.

 

Subsequently, the research team confirmed that washing raw vegetables heavily contaminated with Bacillus cereus (200,000 bacteria per gram) with water reduced the bacterial count to 26,000. This represents about a 90% decrease. However, when washed with water containing a small amount of garlic, the bacterial count decreased further. The team reported that the bacterial count was reduced to 18,000.

 

In addition, the same effect can be achieved by using wasabi. After washing raw vegetables with water containing 250,000 Bacillus cereus bacteria per gram, the bacterial count was found to be 18,000. After washing with water containing a small amount of wasabi, the count decreased to 1,300.

 

Cinnamon, wasabi, green tea, and ginger also have sterilization effects.

One clove of garlic weighs about 4 grams and contains an average of 126 mg of allicin per gram. Allicin is known to have sterilizing and antimicrobial effects. To wash raw vegetables using garlic, crush about one clove and add it to 500 mL (about 2 and a half cups) of water. Briefly soaking the vegetables in this water for cleaning results in a greater antimicrobial effect than simply washing with water. If garlic is not available, adding other antimicrobial foods such as cinnamon, wasabi, green tea, or ginger can also provide a stronger antimicrobial effect than washing with water alone.

 

 

Reporter Lim Min-young imy@chosun.com