# How to un-wax veggies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 16, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581 "2004-06-16T00:56:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/1 "2004-06-16T00:56:43Z")
I’m tired of vegetables (cucumbers are notorious, if innocent, offenders, and apples are a close second) being coated in enough wax that I could add a wick and call it a candle. I vaguely recall seeing a produce wash years ago that claimed to remove the wax and whatever else. Can’t find it any more, so I’ve resorted to scrubbing with Dawn and the kitchen scrubby sponge. Outside of trekking off to a farmers market (none are particularly convenient to home or office) or paying three times what a cucumber is worth for “organic” what’s a good way to un-wax things? ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/2 "2004-06-16T01:42:34Z")
Acetone works well. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/3 "2004-06-16T01:48:18Z")
Hey Crafter, you forgot the smiley 😉 Mmmm, make cucumber salad that tastes like fingernail polish remover. . . . The Dawn should do the trick with minimal fuss. With warm water you probably don’t even need the scrubby. I think food washes are pretty much a marketing gimmick. Then again the wax is perfectly edible. ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/4 "2004-06-16T01:55:50Z")
I don’t understand. Why do you have wax on your vegetables in the first place? As a preservative of some sort? Is this an American, or a LA thing? I’m Australian, and I’ve never seen such a thing. Our vegetables are just fine with no wax whatsoever. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/5 "2004-06-16T02:37:16Z")
It’s an American thing. They spray a liquid wax on veggies at the grocery store to make them look all shiny and appealing, and _supposedly_ to increase their shelf life. As far as I can tell, a scrubbing with hot soap and water is enough to remove these mystery chemicals. Some stores don’t use the stuff. I prefer to shop at them, and avoid the goo entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/6 "2004-06-16T02:41:23Z")
I would think a soft scrubbie and warm water would do it. But you can bet the wax is as harmless as it could possibly be. Food companies hate lawsuits. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/7 "2004-06-16T03:58:07Z")
I’m sure it is perfectly safe to eat, but… A: my veggies have been handled by untold hands of untold levels of cleanliness - from the person who yanked it out of the ground, off the tree or off the vine, whoever put it in a box, and the untold shoppers that have been grubbing through the bin at the store. B: Sometimes, that dang wax is so thick, I can scrape off blobs with my fingernails - not too appetizing. C: Opal probably doesn’t like it either. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/8 "2004-06-16T09:59:14Z")
> [@lambchops](#): > > I don’t understand. Why do you have wax on your vegetables in the first place? As a preservative of some sort? Is this an American, or a LA thing? I’m Australian, and I’ve never seen such a thing. Our vegetables are just fine with no wax whatsoever. Vegetable wax, aside from producing a shininess some find desirable, also prevents the vegetable or fruit from drying out. This may have been more necessary in the past, when transportation was not as swift. You are correct, it is largely unnecessary these days, nonetheless, the tradition continues in many places. The wax, by the way, is non-toxic and harmles to eat. As others have said, warm water and a little rubbing is sufficient to remove it. ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/9 "2004-06-16T10:17:58Z")
A vegetable peeler does a good job. **lambchop** : I was under the impression that our Australian apples are similarly waxed. They often seem too shiny to be entirely natural. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/10 "2004-06-16T11:03:32Z")
The only thing I’m aware of \* being waxed in the UK is lemons (and possibly limes?). But then we don’t usually eat the peel, unless we’re using a zester, so I tend to leave it on. They keep for a couple of months in the fridge. - I may, of course, be wrong. :dubious: Julie ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/11 "2004-06-16T11:28:52Z")
Apples are often waxed here in the UK too, but AFAIK, not many other things are. Except Edam cheese, but I don’t know whether that’s a fruit or a vegetable. ---
**Author:** ![Shrinking\_Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Shrinking\_Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shrinking_Violet)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/12 "2004-06-16T12:01:22Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Except Edam cheese, but I don’t know whether that’s a fruit or a vegetable. I believe it’s an animal from the same family as haggis. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2004, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-un-wax-veggies/250581/13 "2004-06-16T12:37:28Z")
I think that [this](http://www.tryfit.com/) is the stuff that **gotpasswords** was refering to. [This page](http://www.recipegoldmine.com/house/house333.htm) says that the main ingredients are just water and vinegar, but it may be refering to a more “natural” product that does the same thing.