Kitchen Tip: Removing Apple Wax! - Finding Joy In My Kitchen

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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Kitchen Tip: Removing Apple Wax!

Each fall, we process tons of apples – for freezing, applesauce, pies and more.

While we carefully wash all our fruits & veggies, apples have a food-grade wax covering the outside of the skin that doesn’t wash off easily.

Since we love to eat apples with the peel on them, and we love tea made from the peels, it was high time to find a way to really clean that wax off the apples.

5 Easy Steps to Remove Apple Wax

1) Fill your sink with about 4 inches of lukewarm water.

2) Add 1 T lemon juice & 1 T baking soda to the water; swirl around.

3) Place your apples in the water.

4) Using a fruit/veggie brush, brush the outside of the apples. Then, watch to see how gross your water becomes…

5) Rinse the apples & pat them dry.

Now, admire the difference!

Notes: If you still notice wax when you are finished, it’s likely because the apples didn’t get scrubbed with the brush all the way around. I noticed this at first on some of my apples, but a second scrub and the wax was gone.

Linked to: Kitchen Tip Tuesday

at 9/18/2012 06:22:00 AM Filed Under: Apples, Kitchen Tip Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest

27 comments:

1. Andrea the Kitchen WitchSeptember 18, 2012 at 10:10 AM

   Great tip! The wax on apples is hard to get off - vinegar didn't help so I'm going to try this for sure!

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2. AnonymousSeptember 18, 2012 at 10:13 AM

   Great tip- thank you!!!!! Pinning this.

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3. JenSeptember 18, 2012 at 12:04 PM

   Great tip! Tea with apple peels?? How do you do this?

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   1. SnoWhiteSeptember 18, 2012 at 12:31 PM

      Here's the recipe -- super easy!!http://joyinmykitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/apple-honey-tea.html

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4. RhondaSeptember 18, 2012 at 7:25 PM

   wow! Thank you for such a helpful and simple tip

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5. liz@carpeseasonSeptember 18, 2012 at 8:38 PM

   this is great! and you don't taste it all?

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6. HaleySeptember 20, 2012 at 11:14 AM

   Wow - this is a great tip. I've probably been injesting unsafe levels of food wax for years!

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7. AnonymousJuly 25, 2013 at 12:04 AM

   Why would anyone want to remove the wax?

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   1. HelenOctober 24, 2015 at 10:50 AM

      To make caramel apples. The caramel slides off after dipping the apples in it, if the wax isn't removed.

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8. AnonymousJuly 29, 2013 at 7:08 PM

   Why would anyone want to consume the wax??

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9. AnonymousOctober 22, 2013 at 3:51 PM

   Hi SnoWhite...i tried to use your tip to remove wax from apples it didnt work. I followed same instructions. Is there any idea how long we need to keep in the solution?? because i put the apples in the solution for 2 mins almost while scrubbing with scrubcloth...after scrubbing it looked good i almost felt wax is gone...but then to test it i used knife to scrap over the apple and i scrapped alot of wax ....please advice if there is anything i missed. thankyou.

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   1. UnknownJune 14, 2014 at 2:37 PM

      Same here.... :(

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   2. AnonymousOctober 20, 2014 at 12:47 PM

      Same here! I soaked the apples for at least 5 extra minutes after adding more lemon juice and baking soda in. I used a knife and was able to scrape the wax off, but it ended up bruising all of my apples. I need to find a solution that works!

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   3. AnonymousNovember 1, 2015 at 1:25 PM

      Put the apples in boiling water with a splash of vinegar for a few seconds .

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10. Rebecca LindseyOctober 30, 2013 at 3:31 PM

    When I buy organic apples at my local 'health food' store, Jimbo's, there is no wax. Against my better judgement I bought 'organic' apples at CostCo today. My thought process was...I am here and I really shouldn't buy those apples because they are packed in a ridiculous amount of plastic, but I love apples and it will save me a trip. Now I have apples that require serious clean up time at home. It would have been the same amount of time to stop in at Jimbo's:-(BUY LOCAL ORGANIC

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    1. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2015 at 2:21 PM

       I buy organic apples from Kroger and still apples have lot of wax bcoz I checked it with knife

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11. WormMomJanuary 19, 2014 at 2:58 PM

    Good tip, thank you. No longer have to eat apple wax after applying this tip. I'll nail this post somewhere on my blog later as well. Hope you don't mind.

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12. AnonymousJune 4, 2014 at 9:25 AM

    This is a natural acid mixture. For those of you that found it did not work as well, do keep in mind, the more water you use (i.e. - the bigger the sink) the more diluted the mixture becomes and the less effective it will be at removing the wax. Personally I find using a simply stainless steel bowl much more sanitary. If the amount of water used is greater, you will have to increase the amount of lemon juice/baking soda mixture. This should be obvious.

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    1. UnknownJune 14, 2014 at 2:40 PM

       Yep... and I did that but still wax was there after scrapping with a knife.

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    2. AnonymousJuly 15, 2014 at 4:33 PM

       Wax cannot be removed by the proposed method. Wax is not soluble in water. Waxes are soluble in non polar solvents like those used for dry cleaning which are, of course, not appropriate for human consumption.

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13. AnonymousAugust 4, 2014 at 9:35 PM

    You can just use the back of a knife and scrape the apples from the bottom to top towards you. I usually do it with the back side of the knife two timea around then go around once again with the sharp side.

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    1. AnonymousOctober 20, 2014 at 12:49 PM

       I did that and it left bruises all over the skin. I did it very light because I didn't want to accidentally cut in to the skin.

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14. ScottOctober 30, 2014 at 3:30 PM

    Apples naturally produce wax. The natural wax has ursolic acid which has shown to help stop the growth of some cancer cells. The food grade wax used to coat apples is almost chemically the same base compounds as the apple makes itself, as it should be considering it is either shellac, carnauba, or other plant based wax. Once the natural wax is removed some of the moisture retaining abilities of the apple will degrade which leads to less storage/shelf life. To truly remove all the wax the apples will need to be soaked in a vinegar (or some other wax solvent that is safe) for an extended period of time. I would say that the above procedure is perfect for cleaning the apples, I doubt the brushing actually removes the wax, probably just shines them up like a polishing brush on a shoe.

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15. AnonymousNovember 18, 2014 at 5:14 PM

    Great tip! A big bowl of clean shiny apples are always on my table. I find these are better than flowers and my grands fly through the kitchen and grab one.

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16. UnknownOctober 12, 2015 at 2:49 PM

    Try to mix salt(1 teaspoon) with water in a container and leave produce in there for about 15'. Then rinse with water again.

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17. queenOctober 27, 2015 at 6:02 AM

    Thanks for this very useful info!I would say that vinegar instead of lemon juice would also do the trick,(as with unclogging the sink).Yes remembering especially the tasty cooking apples with dry rough skin, can hardly find them anymore.Re some reactions mentioning problems with removing the wax,i can imagine that also different sorts of wax-coatings exist, of which some are less easy to remove...

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18. mimiDecember 28, 2015 at 10:20 PM

    These are great discussions. I'm trying them all tomorrow. I use a lot of apples and cucumbers when I juice, and there becomes a wax buildup on the juicers mesh screen where the pulp goes. Not fun having a clogged mesh screen. Have known juicers that have had to purchase replacement screens cuz couldn't get wax buildup off mesh screen.

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