Fruits we've eaten since childhood, 99% of people eat them straight from the hand, unaware that what they swallow is dirt.

Fruits we've eaten since childhood, 99% of people pop them straight into their mouths, never knowing that what goes into their stomachs is dirt.

In late summer, if you had to name the most common fruit, it would have to be grapes. Surely friends living in the countryside have a few grape vines growing in pots at home. If you put up some trellises in the yard, the climbing grape vines make a great spot to sit and cool off underneath. Grapes are sweet and tart, making them one of the most popular fruits in summer after watermelon. Fresh grapes are only available in summer, but raisins can be bought any time of year if you want them. But have you ever washed raisins before eating them?

The mention of raisins brings to mind the warm-hearted people of Xinjiang, China, where the climate is perfect for growing grapes, Hami melons and other fruits. That's why most of the raisins we commonly eat come from Xinjiang, China, where the methods for making raisins are all very natural, air-drying followed by sun-drying gives the best taste.

In Xinjiang, China, anyone with a vineyard at home has one of these "grape drying houses," where ripe grapes are picked and hung in orderly rows inside. In hot, dry places like Turpan, Xinjiang, China, the traditional method of drying raisins takes 1 month to 1.5 months. Turning grapes into raisins is really just a process of dehydration, and this step is still fairly clean.

After air-drying, the grapes still need to go through further sun-drying to reach a fully dehydrated state. The grapes are picked from the vines, hung to dry in the drying house, then spread on the ground to dry into raisins. This process lets dust from the air hide in the crevices of the raisins, and of course this dust can't be washed off again with water. If the environment is a bit better, people find a courtyard to dry them in; if they're not so particular, the raisins are just spread out to dry on any patch of open ground.

Raisins aren't just a quick snack fruit, they're also one of people's favorite snacks. Over the years, this editor has rarely made a habit of washing raisins before eating them. I wonder if you're the same? In the supermarket, people also pick up raisins and taste them right away, but this is really unhygienic. So friends who love eating them had best rinse them with water before eating. Otherwise, who knows how much dirt ends up in your stomach!