Drying fresh produce after washing

Question

Washing fresh produce before cooking is important for safety and hygiene. However, the water left on them after washing causes oil to splatter in a pan or pot. What is a good way to dry them up before cooking?

Answer 1

There are three major things you can do:

• Use a salad spinner
• Dry the produce with towels (paper or cloth—something that doesn't produce lint)
• Let the produce sit and air dry

The method you choose depends mostly on how sturdy or delicate the particular items are, and how much time you have.

Salad greens are difficult to dry, mostly because it is tedious to carefully dry each leaf or piece with a towel, although rolling the greens in towels and letting them sit for a while is very effective. For this reason, salad spinners are very popular.

If you have time, letting your produce air dry is almost always effective, even for salad greens. While they are damp, they will not wilt, so if you will use them without a reasonable period, this method works even for greens.

Otherwise, a salad spinner is good for greens; and a towel will suffice for almost everything else.

Answer 2

Drying vegetables before you put them into a pan can take a great deal of time and effort, depending on the type. I generally don't bother, I have a lid or a splatter screen handy, and I slap it on right after I drop in the veggies. It saves loads of prep time for the cost of a minute's extra clean-up.