I’ve always been on the fence about those mixtures you find in the grocery store that clean fruit and vegetables. I wash all of my produce (more of a rinse, really), even things I’m going to peel like cantaloupes and avocados.

But the other day I got a wake up call. I brought home an armful of lettuce from the farmers market and went through my usual washing routine. I finished washing it, tore it up and put it in a salad bowl, ready for the table.

And then I saw dirt on my hands.

I put the lettuce back into the colander and rinsed it again, and looked closer. There was dirt I hadn’t seen on the dark red and green heirloom lettuce.

I know this is farmer’s market lettuce and it’s not prewashed and neatly packaged. But I’ve bought and eaten farmer’s market lettuce before and it was never this dirty… or was it?

I’ve decided not to take any more chances. The FDA says that all fruits and vegetables, including those that are organically grown, benefit from a thorough washing to remove soil, surface microbes and pesticides.

And leafy vegetables are especially tricky because they grow close to the ground where bacteria from irrigation systems thrive and pesticides concentrate in the soil. Even if vegetables aren’t sprayed with insecticide, it can be carried by the wind and settle on fruits and vegetables. Okay, maybe I’m going a little overboard.

Regardless, Rebel Green Fruit & Veggie Clean is an effective solution for reducing surface pesticides, waxes, fungicides, and insecticides, and yes, even good old dirt, from produce.

It’s made with all natural ingredients, including grapefruit seed extract and organic extracts of lemon and lime. It rinses clean with no aftertaste.

This is how I wash my farmers market lettuce now: I fill a big bowl with cool water and add the Rebel Green Fruit & Veggie Clean, according to the bottle’s directions. I remove a few outside leaves from the lettuce and drop the remainder in the cool water, where I scrub it gently with a vegetable brush and drop it in a colander for a final rinse.

Sometimes I spin it, but often the heirloom lettuce heads are so delicate I just pat them dry.

The FDA says bagged lettuce marked “ready-to-eat” doesn’t need to be rewashed, but some experts disagree… like me.

The Rebel Green Fruit & Veggie Clean also comes in a very convenient spray bottle so you can hit that apple before you pack it in a camp lunch… or spray the watermelon before you cut it up.

So, the choice is yours. Wash it all or don’t…but then, the risk is all yours, too. Don’t make Mama say it… (OK, OK, “Better safe than sorry!” There!)