https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/1h2xji2/when_did_people_start_washing_fruit/
created by RoutineResult1469 on 29/11/2024 at 22:24 UTC
13 upvotes, 83 top-level comments (showing 25)
My MIL acts like this is an insane thing to do and is genuinely baffled that there would be an extra step before eating it.
Comment by AutoModerator at 29/11/2024 at 22:24 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X or older (born 1980 or before). See this post[1], the rules, and the sidebar for details. Thank you for your submission, RoutineResult1469.
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Comment by RedditGirl212 at 30/11/2024 at 03:56 UTC
105 upvotes, 2 direct replies
When did people not wash fruit?
Comment by insubordin8nchurlish at 30/11/2024 at 12:00 UTC
26 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I have absolutely eaten fruit directly off trees and bushes, but washing anything of unknown provenance has been a good idea since my grandmother's time.
Comment by Swiss_El_Rosso at 30/11/2024 at 10:24 UTC
11 upvotes, 2 direct replies
While working and living abroad in near east i washed any fruits and vegetables from the market or store. It was betwen 1978 and 1980 and i was not alone doing it.
Comment by [deleted] at 30/11/2024 at 11:14 UTC
11 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Owners of the fresh fruit and vegetable trucks that slowly prowled through neighborhoods in the ‘50s and ‘60s with the corrupt clock scale hanging on the back sometimes gave an apple to each of us kids. We all rubbed and shinned them up on our shirts before eating. Except for bananas our moms always washed whatever they bought. Always.
Comment by Wildhair196 at 30/11/2024 at 11:46 UTC
11 upvotes, 1 direct replies
I'll eat fruit/veggies off the tree, bush, vine, and straight out of the dirt without washing it at home... BUT, purchasing any of it from a store after hundreds of people has touched it with their hands after coughing, sneezing, or scratching their ass, you betcha I wash it!!
Comment by MissHibernia at 30/11/2024 at 11:56 UTC
10 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Long before anyone here now has been alive
Comment by marbleriver at 30/11/2024 at 07:14 UTC
7 upvotes, 0 direct replies
In the 1950s-60s, our house backed up to the Yale University Experimental Farm (the apple orchard section). About 10 acres of different varieties of apples. Every tree had a couple of 12x12 inch plywood boards attached to them, with some weird sticky stuff sprayed on the boards and a ton of bugs stuck to the boards.
The apples were amazing! Big, round, spotless and delicious. Of course after gaining access via a dug out hole under the 8-foot fence, we picked a few, and gave them a good wipe on our t-shirts before consuming, so no worries there.
Comment by rikityrokityree at 30/11/2024 at 12:49 UTC
5 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Forever. But wiping an apple from a tree on my jeans sufficed too
Comment by devilscabinet at 30/11/2024 at 04:43 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
It was pretty common even when I was a child in the 70s. People were aware of pesticides and such even back then.
Comment by yurtfarmer at 30/11/2024 at 11:28 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I always thought it was to wash off the chemicals / pesticides.
Comment by Suzeli55 at 30/11/2024 at 10:41 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
In 1970 just after the Great Flood.
Comment by Over_Smile9733 at 30/11/2024 at 11:22 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Hum, duh??? Who doesn’t?? Bugs, pesticides, feces. Who cares about laws, common sense. Even peeled or cut skins off, I still rinse, so outside bacteria doesn’t get inside.
Comment by implodemode at 30/11/2024 at 15:48 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
We were always told to wash it unless you peeled off the skin anyways.
Comment by thewoodsiswatching at 30/11/2024 at 05:01 UTC
5 upvotes, 2 direct replies
When people started dropping dead from listeria and e-coli.
Comment by hesathomes at 30/11/2024 at 10:39 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Rinsing fruit? Since forever. Washing fruit to counteract E. coli and other nasties? People still don’t do it. Washing fruit off with cold water and maybe a vinegar rinse won’t affect food borne illness.
Comment by Dmunman at 30/11/2024 at 12:18 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Bugs and slugs and bird shit. Simple lightly chlorinated water will remove germs and bacteria. Why you should rinse off the fruit before consuming.
Comment by wildnessandfreedom at 30/11/2024 at 12:52 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
A couple hundred thousand years ago.
Comment by Tinman5278 at 30/11/2024 at 12:58 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I remember rinsing fruits before eating in the 1960s. But I think "washing" became a big thing after the "Alar Scare" of 1989.
https://glaserr.missouri.edu/vitpub/teaching/212w00/group%5C_10%5C_article.htm[1][2]
1: https://glaserr.missouri.edu/vitpub/teaching/212w00/group%5C_10%5C_article.htm
2: https://glaserr.missouri.edu/vitpub/teaching/212w00/group_10_article.htm
Comment by UsualAnybody1807 at 30/11/2024 at 15:31 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I first saw any produce being washed was in the 1980s. Maybe people were doing it before then, but no one I saw preparing meals did.
Comment by CalligrapherShort121 at 01/12/2024 at 08:16 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I think it’s more a question of when did they stop.
Comment by NowoTone at 30/11/2024 at 11:45 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Always did with any bought fruit. Only my own fruit gets eaten without washing it first
Comment by bad2behere at 30/11/2024 at 11:46 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I don't wash it unless I'm going to eat the skin or the skin is so gross it will taint the meat if I don't clean it before I peel it. Where I grew up (farm country in 1950-60s) we would eat fruit straight from the fields without washing it. That may be why I'm not very picky. Unless it looked tainted, we just never bothered to wash it.
Comment by ktp806 at 30/11/2024 at 11:50 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
If I picked it myself from the tree and ate it I didn’t wash the fruit. Otherwise I washed the fruit because of pesticides and Ecoli
Comment by Individual-Count5336 at 30/11/2024 at 12:01 UTC
1 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I am 64, and we always washed fruits and vegetables unless they were fresh out of our own garden, and often even then.