Question: Someone told me that rinsing ground beef in hot water before cooking reduces the cholesterol. I cook ground beef and remove it with a slotted spoon to discard the fat. Which is better?Answer: Draining browned ground beef, with a slotted spoon or in a strainer, will remove some fat. Animal fat is a source of artery-clogging cholesterol.A method for removing even more fat emerged during the "no-fat mania" in the mid-1990s. You brown ground beef, drain it, then rinse it with hot water. Some versions even have you rinse it twice.It does reduce the fat and cholesterol, but the texture of the meat is harder and drier.Rinsing uncooked ground beef with hot water might remove some fat, but not as much as it would if you cooked it first.

QUESTION: I returned from Italy with a vacuum-sealed bag of dried tomato slices. They are salty and the shop owner told me I had to do something to them, but I don't remember what.ANSWER: Sun-dried tomatoes usually have to be rehydrated by covering them with hot water and letting them stand. Doing that, and then draining and rinsing, should help.

QUESTION: When we wash fruits and vegetables, what are we really washing off, besides dirt? Are pesticides really water-soluble with a rinse of cold water?ANSWER: Ah, just what I love — a chance to call Dr. Carl Winter.Winter is a microbiologist with the University of California at Davis who leads a double life writing pop-song parodies on food safety. (Yes, it's as goofy as it sounds: I once saw Winter get a room of serious scientists on their feet, singing "We Are the Microbes" to the tune of "We are the Champions." You had to be there.)Winter says there isn't much good research on how much pesticide residue is removed by washing. Some pesticides are more water-soluble than others, while some are systemic, which means they're inside the cells.The surface of the fruit also makes a difference. It's easier to wash stuff off a smooth apple than bumpy broccoli.The real reason to wash your food isn't pesticide residues, which are very small. The reason you wash are the microorganisms — the germs."You don't know which hands from which tiny children have touched that food," he says. Some studies estimate the average apple has been touched by four people and a tomato may have been touched by 20 people."Forget about the residues," Winter says. "Think about what might be on people's hands."No study has shown much benefit from commercial produce washes, he says. The best way to clean your produce is still the same: Clean, cold, running water, with a scrub brush on bumpy things like cantaloupe skins.By MCTNews Service