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Old 02-04-2006, 01:06 AM posted to rec.gardens,sci.med.nutrition
Knack
 
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Default How to get rid of the wax on apples?


"Doug Kanter" wrote in message
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The best example is with red delicious apples purchased at
your local grocery store.
The apples have whitish areas/stains on the outside skin,
and on red apples the white stains are especially visible.
It is difficult to remove the stains even when trying to
rub them off under running water. When soaked in water for
10 mins the whitish areas become even
more visible. I assume they are wax, and the type of wax
used on apples supposed to be
water soluble and easily removable and these stains one is
NOT. I do not want to eat apples with pesticides and other
dirt under the wax.

These stains are on apples no matter where you buy them.
Is there any way to remove the wax quickly and reliably?
Does it make sense to peel each apple?


It's easy to remove. Get yourself a fingernail brush that
you'll use just for fruits & vegetables. Put a drop or two
of dish soap on the brush and scrub, then rinse
(obviously). It won't hurt the apple, but it will remove
the wax. Besides seeing that it's gone, you'll notice that
the skin suddenly has an apple smell.

this works, although i use a washrag & not a brush.
one should remember that apples also have a natural waxy
coating on the skin, in addion to that which is applied for
storage. my guess is that the whitish area on the skin is the
natural wax bloom under the artificially applied wax. the
bloom would get larger if the apple was soaking.

I agree with you about the pesticides, but the wax is a
good thing. Without it, it's unlikely any domestically
grown apples would last more than a month or three. Red
Delicious have a thicker skin, and might go well without
wax, but they're only good for cattle feed, so who cares?

geez Doug, it's bad enough you hate dogs. now you want to
subject poor innocent cows to the abomination that is a
Delicious apple? you evil, twisted man!
the only use for a Delicious apple is starting a compost
pile...

Delicious apples are also good ballast for florists' fruit baskets -
they
keep the baskets stable so they don't tip over and damage the
worthwhile
fruit, if any. :-)

They may not taste as good as other apple varieties, but AFAIK red
delicious
skins contain a far greater concentration of the antioxidant flavonoid
named
quercetin, than does any other variety of apple. This is also true of
red
onions with respect to yellow/white varieties.

Other important sources of quercetin: black/green teas, cranberry, red
wine,
brocolli, kale, spinach, whole buckwheat flour, undutched cocoa powder

Any of those things taste much better than red delicious apples.

Red delicious are still my least favorite apple for flavor, and I used to
avoid them for.. I can't remember how far back! It was only after
learning of their quercetin content last autumn that I began choosing
them once in a while. There are 3 or 4 aspects about them that make them
less enjoyable.

My favorite apple is rarely available, and when it is, it is by name
only, as the cultivar has been hybridized over the years and bears little
resemblance to the one that we loved as kids: Stayman winesap. Although
its skin was thick, and dull red, with little natural wax, and with
unattractive scaly patches, it was positively the sweetest, crispest
apple. They were commonly used for cooking, because many people detested
their skin, which is removed for cooked recipes anyway. The modern
cultivar of the Stayman winesap usually has been x-bred (possibly with
Braeburn, or who know what) for the purpose of looks and to make the skin
thinner, resulting in an inferior flavor that I do not prefer over other
varieties. I don't think I've found a true original Stayman winesap in
well over 10 years.


Next to hostas and squash, apples are the next worst whores of the
vegetable world. Stop obsessing over quercetin and just eat more apples of
whatever kind you like best. Where are you from? Can you get a decent
Cortland?

Cortlands are grown mostly in NY state. In fact I recall trout fishing a
couple times near Cortland, NY; that country is one of the greenest, lushest
farmlands I've ever seen. As a kid, I recall Cortland apples as were among
the first of the economy apples that were sold prebagged in supermarkets. I
wonder whether they're simply McCintosh that are graded smaller in size and
resold as a different variety! No, they're unavailable where I now live; in
eastern Washington.