When you begin to cook seriously you truly understand the importance of washing your hands thoroughly and constantly. Particularly if you’re going to do something like make your own root beer. I did that once as a project in my AP Chemistry class. Never again. That horrible experience taught me a hugely important lesson. Wash your hands. Use anti-bacterial/anti-microbial soap, lather up real well, get up to your wrists and under your nails, and sing “Happy Birthday” twice while you’re doing it. (That last part I learned from my aunt, an RN). I’ve learned to take many precautions while cooking. Not only can the bacteria on your hands make someone (or yourself) very sick, it can dramatically change the outcome of your dish. Today I’d like to go over some basic cooking sanitation precautions, and how to undo the damage all that soap and hot water can do to your hands.
First and foremost make sure your surfaces are clean. That means washing your counter top and cutting boards. I have two different styles of cutting board. I have a large Pyrex cutting board for use with raw meats and “slimy” fruits and veggies. I also have several bamboo cutting boards for everything else. To clean your counters you can use dish soap and water. To clean the glass cutting board I use Lysol and then once its air dried rinse it with water. Since the glass cutting board is going to come in contact with raw meat it has to be disinfected every single time its used. For the bamboo cutting boards I just use mild dish soap and water. I also oil them about once a month or whenever they start to feel dry. I just use mineral oil from the drug store. I was using a very expensive specialty cutting board oil, but when I took a look at the ingredients it was just refined mineral oil and fragrance to cover up the smell of the mineral oil. I didn’t find it to be worth the extra money seeing as it was $35 for 8.5 oz, and a 16 oz bottle of plain mineral oil from Walgreen’s is $5. I haven’t had a problem with it yet, but if you don’t feel comfortable using something that isn’t specifically manufactured for oiling cutting boards, don’t use it. You do have to oil wooden cutting boards though.
Once your surfaces are clean its time to move on to what you’re cooking with. That means making sure all of your pots, pans, and utensils are clean and sanitary. Don’t just trust your dishwasher to do it for you. Inspect the pots and pans you’re going to use, your utensils your going to use, your serve ware, glasses, and don’t neglect your spoon rest. If something is covered in “water spots” wash it again. Water spots can be caused by hard or poor quality water, or it can be food that never got washed off properly in the dishwasher and is now stuck to whatever. Better to be safe than sorry. Just give things a quick once over in some hot soapy water if they need it. If everything appears to be clean you’re ready to move on to the next step.
WASH YOUR HANDS! Seriously. I keep a little nail brush in a cute dish by the sink and scrub, scrub, scrub! I have acrylic nails, so I have to be extra careful to scrub as far under them as I can. Use a decent soap (I like to use foaming anti-bacterial soap) and wash like a surgeon. I’m not really afraid of germs in the sense that I think they’re going to kill me and I have to wash my hands every time I touch something, I just don’t want them in my cooking or on my dishes. I don’t feel the need to wash up to my elbows, just as long as I wash over the wrist I’m fine. Just make sure your hands are nice and clean.
After your hands are clean its time to wash your food. Rinse raw meat under running water and only use a glass or plastic cutting boards for raw meat. Rinse any vegetables under running water as well and use a separate cutting board. Once you’ve used a cutting board or utensil for raw meat don’t use it for anything else until its been properly cleaned and sanitized. Once all your food as been washed and is ready for cooking, you’re ready to make a great meal that most likely won’t make anyone sick.
All of this is pretty much common sense. It might even seen like going over board, but trust me, if you start doing this you will see definite improvements. We all have bacteria that live on our skin. Its a fact of life. If you don’t believe me do a little science experiment. On a clean (preferably clear) plastic dish, put a sugar paste down (mix sugar with pedialyte), and scratch some skin cells onto it (if you want to see how gross it can really get use skin from your scalp or a few strands of hair). Cover it and put it in a cool, dry, dark place. Come back in a week and see what it looks like. Its disgusting. I had to do those cultures in a science class once. These things really change your perspective on how clean you thing you are, but I digress. Onto how you can undo the dry skin from all the washing, and naturally too!
Make your own moisturizing scrub using a few things you have around the kitchen. I made two different ones and store them in jelly jars. For the super moisturizing one use 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 TBS olive oil, and 1/2 tsp of lemon juice. Mix it up in a small bowl and rub all over your hands. Make sure to get it between your fingers and work it in really well. Rinse with warm water and wash with just a little soap to get the excess oil off your skin. For the other scrub mix 1/2 cup of kosher salt with 2 TBS of coconut oil that has been heated just until it melts. This one is a bit more abrasive, but since I wash my hands at least 4 times every time I cook and have my hands submerged in hot soapy water for at least 15 minutes a day washing bottles I really need the extra oomph. Use that one the same way just rub it in really well and wash it off. Coconut oil is great for you on so many levels you can replace any sort of lotion or conditioner with it. These are the best ways I’ve found to undo the damage caused by all the hand washing and compared to buying fancy scrubs it is so much cheaper. Not to mention the sense of satisfaction from making it yourself. So come on guys, keep the cooking clean and the hands soft! Do you know of any other homemade scrubs? Leave me a comment and let me know!
The 50's Wife 
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