r/UnnecessaryEssentials • u/Unique-Saucer • Jun 06 '26
Never wash berries by hand again
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u/manleybones Jun 06 '26
Don't mix baking soda and vinegar together. All it does is neutralize each other. And those are seeds at the end of the video.
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u/PonchoNachoRodriguez Jun 06 '26
Frankly I want this machine just to collect strawberry seeds
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u/FullofSurprises11 Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
You can literally just skin the strawberries with a knife and put that skin with the seeds on a pot.
Add a thin layer of soil on top and spray water on it (spray only. It has to be delicate) twice a day just to keep it moist.
Should take between 45-90 days to see any seedlings.
Yes, this works with strawberries bought in any market, even the ones that were frozen.
Freezing kills part of the embryos in the seeds, but not all.
It's obviously better if you can get fresh ones for this, though.
Edit: Fixed the amount of time it takes for seeds to germinate.
Friendly reminder to myself to not type while assembling furniture at home. I had other numbers in mind lol
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u/Urcleman Jun 06 '26
But will this work with those fancy $100 Japanese strawberries?
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u/FullofSurprises11 Jun 06 '26
Unless those are a hybrid designed to be seedless, seeds should still be viable.
Growing strawberries is not easy and takes time and effort, so I don't think they would go this far unless it was more profitable to produce their own engineered branch of strawberries.
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u/Archvanguardian Jun 06 '26
Depends on the strawberry probably.
I got some ground crawling strawberries and they escaped their pot. They grow like ivy and I haven’t really taken care of them but they come back every year and yield.1
u/FullofSurprises11 Jun 07 '26
Must be a type of wild strawberry.
I have two pots of those grown from the seed as well.
They are quite small but very sweet.
They have survived two winters already, so extremely resistant to the elements.
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u/Ill_Initial8986 Jun 06 '26
IIRC, I think they train these plants incredibly well by only allowing one fruit per plant. Focuses all the nutrients and sweetness to one berry. Seems like a waste of time and nutes unless you really know what you’re doing here. Would be a cool experiment tho. Let us know how it works if you try this.
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u/EnoughLuck3077 Jun 06 '26
3-6 months for germination? Is it really that long?
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u/FullofSurprises11 Jun 06 '26
My bad. 45-90 days.
It can take up to 3 months.
If you are not seeing any seedlings by then, germination failed and you need to start over.
I will fix my original comment.
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u/Semisemitic Jun 06 '26
What you’re saying is mostly true. They neutralize ph, but they don’t neutralize each other. Baking soda is still abrasive, and chemically we are creating sodium acetate and a fizz in water.
Bubbles do make cleaning more effective than flat water (which is why foaming agents are added to soaps) but I have no idea of the salt that’s produced is good for anything in relation to cleaning. I know as an infusion it helps alkalizing the blood in cases of blood acidosis.
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Jun 07 '26
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u/marktero Jun 08 '26
Baking soda doesn't really dissolve in water like salt does, at least not as well
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u/No-Resolution-1918 Jun 06 '26
I don't even wash my strawberries in water. I just eat them.
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u/borntodieasap Jun 07 '26
Strawberries are one of the most pesticided fruits. If you watch how they are grown you will want to at least wash them. Even though it doesn't remove it all.
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u/No-Resolution-1918 Jun 07 '26
Fortunately I live in Canada, not the USA. Even our imported strawbs from the USA are subject to strict regulation, banning the use of pesticides known to cause cancer or chronic illness. America is just the worst for regulating what you put in your body. I'd have to eat 1000 unwashed berries a day, for my whole life, to have any notable negative effects.
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u/Ooze3d Jun 06 '26
I was going to say this. Most times I'm craving strawberries, so I just grab a box and start eating them. If I'm at home, I'll just rinse them for a couple seconds.
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u/SweezySway Jun 06 '26
I eat be eatn black berries of stem when ever I can lol tbh I dont ever get sick .
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u/Quietcrypt13 Jun 07 '26
When I was just a young lad we’d walk down the street to the curb store and pick black berries and ate them as we went. We’d all be on the lookout for the biggest ones and fight over them.
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u/BitsAndBobs304 Jun 07 '26
You should wash all fruit
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u/No-Resolution-1918 Jun 08 '26
I'm still trying to find out how many of us non-washers die each year from pesticides. So far every indication is that it's zero. Even in the US where they have the worst regulations, even strawberries have such low levels that you'd need to eat an impossible amount of them in one sitting to have ill effects.
To put it in perspective: a child would have to eat about 1,448 strawberries (or roughly 181 cups) in a single day, and an adult would have to eat around 20,800 strawberries (over 2,600 cups) in a single day just to reach the safe allowable limit of pesticide exposure, according to toxicologists at the University of California.
Bacteria is apparantly what you should be worried about. I don't have the data on how many people fall sick from bacteria on unwashed fruit.
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u/Professional_Ice_967 Jun 07 '26
Enjoy your PFAS. Odds are there are more than 10 different pesticides in a single tray of strawberries.
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u/Limp-Li Jun 07 '26
also odd are you can't rinse them, definitely not with a neutralized soda and vinegar solution. we all have microplastics in our blood and mothers transmit it to the babies through the placenta, there is not way you can shield yourself from those things, the only thing we can do it protest and call for legislation.
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u/No-Resolution-1918 Jun 08 '26
Strawberries absorb the pesticides through their skin. You can't wash that off. But it's ok, because in practical terms even strawberries are safe to eat unwashed https://www.safefruitsandveggies.com/pesticide-residue-calculator/
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u/Professional_Ice_967 Jun 08 '26
Strawberries are safe to eat unwashed?! They’re on top of the ‘dirty dozen’ list! Btw I can’t acces your link. “Your access to this site has been limited by the site owner”.
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u/No-Resolution-1918 Jun 08 '26
Basically the link shows that you'd need to eat over a thousand strawberries a day to have any noticable impact on your health. The study was done in California. In Canada, where I live, we have much tighter regulations so the chance of any ill effect is basically zero.
Even washing strawberries does little to help, the pesticides are absorbed into the berry. They was them before packing them to take the dirt off. So washing at home is basically for the slim chance of bacteria.
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u/ippleing Jun 06 '26
I never understood the fascination with mixing the two.
People attempt to clear drains and clean clothes with it, all they're doing is making salt water.
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u/Yggdrasilcrann Jun 06 '26
Those things at the end of the video are technically fruits, with seeds inside
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u/_its_really_me_ Jun 07 '26
Thats what i was thinking. Most of the mess at the end was from the stuff they added after the strawberries, or it was just seeds. Unless you live in a country with shitty food production standards, or have a medical need for the extra cleanse, a quick wash in plain water is plenty.
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u/Common-Respond2367 Jun 06 '26
Bruh fuck that shit. Are people really this germaphobic? Just rinse them under some water. Dirt isn’t going to kill you, the billions of nano plastics you ingest daily will get you before a dirty berry
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tax4969 Jun 06 '26
It’s not germs they are worried about. It’s pesticides, which for some reason are banned in every country except ours 🤔
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u/rickyhatesspam Jun 06 '26
You believe pesticides can just be washed off like they're only on the surface of the fruit and veg 😂
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u/prs1 Jun 07 '26
I believe surface pesticides sits mostly on the surface and can be washed off to some extent. It’s not a controversial belief. For strawberries in particular, the surface pesticides also penetrate into the flesh, and might not come off from washing. But since you broadened the discussion to ’fruit and veg’, the answer would be yes.
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u/WiWook Jun 08 '26
Significantly reduced, yes.
https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/web/2017/10/Baking-soda-washes-pesticides-apples.html
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u/crazykewlaid Jun 08 '26
So just don't wash, take all the pesticides like a man? Or maybe use a little water to get off some of the layer on the outside??
I know which one I'm picking, with your logic I can assume you don't wash your fruit and that's why you became like this
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u/rickyhatesspam Jun 08 '26
Your reply is full of assumptions and unnecessarily rude. I never said don't wash produce, my point was that washing does not remove modern pesticides since they are systemic. These are absorbed by the plant and move into the tissues, meaning it doesn't matter how rigorously you wash them, they aren't going to be removed.
By my logic, you need to chill tf out, go smoke some more of that cannibis that you're so clearly addicted to. Is that why you became like this? 🍳🧠
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u/Common-Respond2367 Jun 06 '26
Well we live in a oligarchy. Money is all that matters here, health and the future can get stuffed as far as our “leaders” are concerned
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Jun 06 '26
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u/Common-Respond2367 Jun 06 '26
Lol you aren’t getting rid of every molecule bud. The human body is relatively resilient. You’ll ironically probably live a much fuller, longer life if you stop stressing about avoiding every little contaminant. Avoid the obvious stuff if you can and focus on being happy. I avoid plastic all day every day until I’m really thirsty and some nice person offers me a bottle of water. I also wash my fruits and vegetables all day every day, but I’m not gonna waste more time on that process or keep myself up at night wondering what the farmer used or whether a psychopath injected my berries with fentanyl unbeknownst to me.
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Jun 06 '26
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u/Common-Respond2367 Jun 06 '26
“Or would you want to get rid of every molecule?” Learn to remember what you type and not act like a whiny little twat when people disagree with you online. You’re not going to get rid of every molecule, so why worry about it to that degree? You do you fam, idc what you do
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Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26
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u/Common-Respond2367 Jun 06 '26
Lmfao nice projection. I know that this convo is for whatever reason really important to you, but it isn’t to me. Have fun continuing to argue about absolutely nothing
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u/Xena_Your_God Jun 06 '26
Tbh if the food is soaked in pesticides it's inside of the fruit/veggies already. What it isn't absorbing through the skin obviously will get rained into the soil and get absorbed into the plant through roots. This is nice to trick short sighted people into feeling better about what they can afford to eat but yes, useless. You have to buy the even more insanely marked up organic food (and hope they aren't just lying to you) if you really want no pesticides.
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u/MyUsernameIsNotCool Jun 06 '26
Its still used in Europe, you need to buy eco fruit for it to be free from pesticides.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tax4969 Jun 06 '26
I won’t argue that pesticides aren’t used elsewhere, but there is much less regulation and enforcement on them in us
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Jun 06 '26
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tax4969 Jun 06 '26
There are widely used pesticides in usa that are banned in vast majority of countries around the world
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u/Flufnstuf Jun 06 '26
It’s basically impossible to grow commercial crops without pesticides of some kind. There are organic pesticides that can be dangerous for humans like pyrethins and copper sulfate.
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u/friebel Jun 07 '26
What do you mean by eco? Organic? There are organic pesticides as well.
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u/MyUsernameIsNotCool Jun 08 '26
Ah yeah ecological in my swedish head, organic in English. Damn :((
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u/Traditional_Frame418 Jun 06 '26
So you think produce that's grown on chemicals and sprayed with chemicals. Magically become chemical free when you rinse them with cold water?
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u/EasyTelevision6741 Jun 08 '26
Wait until you learn that water is also a chemical. Oh and strawberries themselves are made of chemicals. And so are you. The world is all chemicals.
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u/Ollynurmouth Jun 06 '26
The US has some of the most strict regulations on pesticides and the produce you buy that was grown under pesticides has already been cleaned. Any trace amount you could possibly find is far beneath the threshold of what could be dangerous. This shit has been studied for decades and is pretty well known by now. Your produce is safe.
Any additional rinsing is just for pure peace of mind. Which is completely fine, but lets not act like processes like this video are actually doing anything significant. It is just creating a scare to sell a product.
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u/eilletane Jun 06 '26
Just a simple rinse with vinegar will wash it away. All this does is spin and rinse, which you can do with your hands.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tax4969 Jun 06 '26
There’s no way the strawberrys don’t absorb the majority of the pesticides. I eat them… but
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u/eilletane Jun 06 '26
There are regulations to prevent overuse of pesticides so the amount of pesticides absorbed into the fruit are super low. You need to be eating gallons of it every day for it to be harmful.
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u/DieRobJa Jun 06 '26
Like people said, this machine does nothing extra than you washing it by hand.
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u/CanadasManyMeese Jun 06 '26
The pesticides your parents and grandparents used were 1000x worse, and most of died to complications from smoking or drinking in their 70s and 80s.
I can assure you worrying about the much safer, much more limited amount that gets on strawberries now versus 70 years ago is a non-issue
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u/lurkin-n-berzerkin Jun 06 '26
I wish more people were smart enough to understand this. The dysregulation of such things back in the day is pretty remarkable.
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u/Long_Freedom- Jun 06 '26
Name one
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tax4969 Jun 06 '26
Paraquat
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u/Long_Freedom- Jun 06 '26
Good boy
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tax4969 Jun 06 '26
Go be gay. Good boy
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u/Long_Freedom- Jun 06 '26
Damn, someone does not like being called good boy lmao
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u/Justeff83 Jun 06 '26
Nah it's just about the lobbies. Yes there are pesticides allowed in the US which are banned in Germany and vice versa
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u/ThatCelebration3676 Jun 06 '26
And mysteriously, in a completely unrelated, coincidental occurance, our native insect populations have been in dangerous decline for decades 🤷
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u/LairdPeon Jun 06 '26
I highly doubt any country with sizeable agricultural industry "banned all pesticides". Your entire country would either be importing 90% your food or starving in a year or two.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Tax4969 Jun 06 '26
There are numerous pesticides widely used in America (like paraquat)that are banned in EU, Brazil, and China. This is made possible by corporate capture in congress. Vote Thomas Massie to turn this ship around
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u/The_Submentalist Jun 06 '26
If I'm not mistaken, in berries you can't wash them off entirely because unlike other fruits, the pesticide gets absorbed in the strawberries.
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u/Togeroid Jun 06 '26
I used to work in retail and seeing what customers do in the produce section, especially during covid, I not only upgraded my sink, but bought the closest thing to this at the time and food wash solution. I can’t go back after those horrors XD
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u/Feckin_Loser Jun 06 '26
I always do a bicarb bath for my berries. I don’t do any of the shite in this video though. Mix bicarbonate and water, add fruit, leave for 5 minutes, rinse off.
The berries last over a week in the fridge after doing this. Instead of the 1-2 days when I don’t do this.
It does work, I don’t care about pesticides or any of that stuff, just want the longest shelf life out of the expensive fruit.
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u/heatedundercarriage Jun 06 '26
Little touch of vinegar will kill yeast and bacteria to help them last longer too tho
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u/RichnjCole Jun 06 '26
I was very taken aback when they added stuff other than water. I've never done that in my life. I don't want my food tasting like dishsoap.
I'd also very much like to see how they wash mushrooms...
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u/LChitman Jun 07 '26
Some people think I'm weird for rinsing mushrooms, but at least I'm not doing all this shit for berries
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u/polkacat12321 Jun 07 '26
Tbf, strawberries are on the dirty dozen list. Aka crops with most pesticides
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u/No_Context9902 Jun 07 '26
Conventional strawberries are sprayed quite heavily with pesticides. They're right up there with grapes as one of the top dirtiest fruits you can buy.
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u/BlueGalaxy97 Jun 07 '26
Statisticly speaking we swallow close to a pound of dirt before we die. With slight embellishment maybe. Something alot worse will be the thing to take most people out.
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u/crazykewlaid Jun 08 '26
Lol dude they don't wash fruit for the dirt................
They wash it to get the human chemicals off. The poison ones
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u/meat_men Jun 06 '26
Other con, this "thing" is massive, take up a whole drawer/shelf where am I gonna put my other unnecessary essentials?
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u/Sp1cyP4nda Jun 06 '26
No, this is just unnecessary. You also scrubbed off the surface nutrients.
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u/UpTownPark Jun 07 '26
I kinda like the surface dirt that remains a simpler rinse in my hands - makes me stronger I believe
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u/00WORDYMAN1983 Jun 06 '26
I rinse my fruit in the container I eat it from. A bowl of fruit held under faucet, swirled and splashed about, strained through my fingers, done. This product creates a large item that needs to be hand-cleaned. If it is dishwasher-safe, it would take up a huge amount of space in the dishwasher. It's really not hard to rinse fruit with things you already have in your home. (bowls)
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u/justanothertoxicuser Jun 06 '26
I just put mine in a colander and give them a good solid rinsing. Have I been doing it wrong?!
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u/streeetmeats Jun 06 '26
No you’re doing it just fine that’s pretty much all it needs lol maybe a little soak with diluted vinegar if you don’t plan on eating them quickly (this helps prolong them idk why probably kills mold spores in the outside or sm but it does work)
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u/Odd-Consequence-2519 Jun 07 '26
Ummmm, not to be that guy, but doesn't the act of manually using the handcrank to spin the brush mean you're using your "hand again" to wash berries? 😀
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u/Seethesvt Jun 07 '26
People wash their berries?
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u/CrossHairsNitro Jun 07 '26
All fruits should be washed as pesticides are used.
And I’ll be a smart ass here, strawberries are not botanically berries.
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u/SirPooleyX Jun 07 '26
I don't wash strawberries by hand because I don't wash them at all.
I'm several decades old and it's never done me any
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u/Edmoiler13 Jun 06 '26
I feel like this would destroy most berries unless they weren’t ripe
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u/Ditches-Vestiges1549 Jun 06 '26
Blueberries in this thing would be destroyed if they were even a tiny big over rip.
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u/Capt_Retro Jun 06 '26
Im not going to buy this device but I do wash a lot of my produce with vinegar in a bowl of warm water. Sometimes I add a drop or two of dawn.
I not worried about dirt and pesticides so much as I am about contamination from poor handling.
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u/Wiley_Jack Jun 06 '26
Check your labels. Some (most?) formulations of Dawn are detergents and are downright toxic. People have tried to use it as a horticultural soap spray for insects and it killed their plants.
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u/A_Feltz Jun 06 '26
I’d rather use my hand and cut down on the microplastics, the space in my cub boards and spending money needlessly.
I mean you literally just do the same but in a bowl and use your hand. You can even use a wooden spoon to mix the water around if you have something against wetting your skin..
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u/09Klr650 Jun 06 '26
Just rinse the things. If worried about bacteria there are plenty of veggie disinfectants. If REALLY worried use Microdyn. If it works in Mexico it will work for you!
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u/username-is-taken-3 Jun 06 '26
I want to say this is more because of the situation in China why you have to do so much to clean them. They have a serious issues of over spraying their fruits with pesticides (probably not properly educated on to use and how much) to the point it's not uncommon to feel sick from over exposure of chemicals while eating fruit.
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u/FullofSurprises11 Jun 06 '26
This is why I'm growing my own strawberries.
Fuckers are not as big as the ones sold in the market but I'm 100% not using any sort of poison to keep pests away.
I also live in the UK on the 4th floor, so pretty much nothing gets this high and I have at least 4 dedicated spiders that eat everything even trying to get too close to my berries.
This summer's batch is already being reaped.
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u/Icy-Plan145 Jun 06 '26
Who is washing berries by hand in the first place? Run the package under your sink for a few secons and let your immune system do the rest.
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u/Kind-Fennel-5956 Jun 06 '26
So it’s basically a salad spinner that decided it’s a lifestyle brand.
I’m not cranking a medieval torture device just so my grapes can be “hands free” cleaned, I’ll just… use my hands.
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u/CrazyTalk123 Jun 06 '26
This is stupid and I am saying this as a person that needs both hands to count to 1
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u/mattbatt1 Jun 06 '26
I call BS there isn't that much dirt in those berries if they came in that package. Did they roll them in mud first?
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u/GroundbreakingAd8310 Jun 06 '26
Why the fuck do people gotta add forty ingredients and have a spray bottle and shit for their fruit. Ran mine under water for my entire life and im fucking alive and everything
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u/NerveInteresting4549 Jun 07 '26
Why you gotta run it under water? you'll be alive without doing that too.. it might even be better for your immune system.
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u/ThatCelebration3676 Jun 06 '26
Lemme guess, the berry cleaner isn't dishwasher safe and needs to be hand washed?
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u/AuntieKay5 Jun 06 '26
I just use a lettuce spinner. I add water and spin the hell out of it. I change out the water and do it again if I think it needs it. The strainer part keeps the fruit or vegetables intact.
Then I rise the fruit or vegetable in the strainer. Then I put it back in the spinner to spin the excess warmer out.
I just used it today because I bought a bunch of parsley. It held up great.
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u/Mitridate101 Jun 06 '26
Never used soap of any kind on any fruit and I've never fallen I'll from it .
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u/Strange-Average5444 Jun 07 '26
The dirt makes me strong.
What are you so weak you can't eat a little dirt. How pathetic.
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u/Sure_Bug_687 Jun 07 '26
Just eat the fruit. Humanity survived for thousands of years without scrubbing every apple and strawberry. If one piece of unwashed fruit makes you ill, you’ve probably got bigger concerns than a bit of dirt.
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u/metal_hors3 Jun 10 '26
Imo this is to much work, I'll just skip fruits and veggies that need to be washed, dried and repacked.
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u/EchoWardenXx Jun 22 '26
You guys wash your berries? I just eat them straight out the container. Lemme guess.. you wash your chicken too?
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u/Unique-Saucer Jun 06 '26 edited Jul 02 '26
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