How to Clean Leeks - CHOW Tip

Rinsing the outside of a leek will get you a shiny leek that's still stuffed full of grit. CHOW Associate Editor Roxanne Webber shows a simple way to trim a leek for maximum dirt access.

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TRANSCRIPT
When you're cooking with leeks they can be really dirty. So it's important you clean them well because a lot of the dirt you're not going to see. It's actually going to be down in the white part, which is what you generally want to use. So to clean them, first you're going to want to cut the top off. The green part, it's not used in most recipes but I actually save it to make stock with later. Then you're going to want to cut the bottom off and then you're going to want to slit carefully down the center. At this point the most important thing is rinsing out each layer, but make sure you're rinsing the leek downward. You don't want to wash dirt back inside it. Once you get through all your layers you should have a pretty clean leek and you can just chop that up and use it however you want.