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I love apples. I like to eat them with skin as it has plenty of fiber in the skin. But apples are famous for wax and pesticides on the skin which I don’t want to ingest. I have read many articles on the web and suggestions for removing the wax from the surface.

These suggestions include soaking in vinegar or hot water and other methods. They suggest that soaking apples in vinegar removes the wax that can be seen in the vinegar. I have done that, but never seen any residue of wax in the vinegar.

So I have set aside a new kitchen sink Scotch-Brite scrubber for this purpose and been scrubbing the apple skin under running water before eating. I think this method should remove most of the wax and pesticides. I would like to hear your input.

Cascabel
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Sam
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    The Scotch-Brite pad was new the first time you used it. I'd be more worried about the bacteria growing on the pad than I would the wax and pesticide on the apple skin. – MaxW Jan 11 '16 at 05:12
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    I saw a "fruit soap" in a local greengrocer recently, for washing your fruits and veges. You could check that out to see what the ingredients are. – Ming Jan 11 '16 at 07:30
  • MaxW, Thanks for the response. I agree with you, of course I don't use the Scotch-Brite for washing dishes. In case of bacterial growth, then I can put a table spoon of bleach in a cup of water and rinse Scoth-Brite in it before using it. – Sam Jan 11 '16 at 16:28
  • Related: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/25217/23376 and http://www.ct.gov/caes/cwp/view.asp?a=2815&q=376676 – Ching Chong Jan 11 '16 at 17:10
  • And: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/q/43038/23376 – Ching Chong Jan 11 '16 at 17:11
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    I have had good results from the hot water and vinegar rinse (although I also add a few drops of blue Dawn soap. I forgot about it once when I had a sink-full of apples and only drained it after the water had all cooled down and it left a really nasty line of scum around my sink where the water level had been. I don't usually see the "stuff" that comes off the apples but that convinced me that it was worth the effort to wash them. If I just have a few apples though then I use warm water and Dawn soap for ease of effort. – BunnyKnitter Jan 12 '16 at 20:42

3 Answers3

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Just rinse them quickly with hot water, and afterward with cold water. That should melt the wax, and remove everything.

NKY Homesteading
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Marc Luxen
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    This is not editing, this is changing my answer completely. I will remove this, this really goes too far, sorry. – Marc Luxen Jan 11 '16 at 14:09
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    Marc, while this is a community-edited site and you should expect some editing of your posts by others, if someone edits your answer in a way you don't like, you don't have to just leave it. You can roll back, or better yet, edit to further improve. In this case, I agree that the edit was overly aggressive, but I also think that your original answer could've been a little more constructively written. So please feel free to edit and undelete your post if you wish. – Cascabel Jan 11 '16 at 17:41
  • Yeah I agree I don't think it was rude. Fruit soap *does* sound like a consumerism scam! But I *really* do worry about pesticides too, since my generic Raid is oil based and water doesn't mix with oil, so how is water going to clean pesticides? – Chloe Oct 02 '16 at 21:25
  • Milligrams of oil *will* mix with water. Soap helps. We're not talking a gram and a half of dichlorophenol-indophenol. – Wayfaring Stranger Sep 01 '19 at 23:44
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I fill a large bowl with warm water, add a tablespoon of lemon juice and a tablespoon of baking soda to the water. Then I use a soft nylon bristle brush to scrub the apples with the water and let soak for a few minutes.

You'll see the water change color from the wax and grime. Rinse them off and your apples will be nice and clean. This works for cucumbers too.

NKY Homesteading
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    Won't the baking soda neutralize the lemon juice? Why add both? – Chloe Oct 02 '16 at 21:13
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    @Chloe Ya, I'd think so too. What he's basically doing is rinsing the apples... which is something you should do anyway - although it can be as simple as running the faucet and rubbing the apple with your hands under the running water. – SnakeDoc Sep 04 '19 at 21:39
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I have seen people use their microwave. Put washed apples on paper towel and nuke for 10 seconds or more. Keep watch to see if wax is melting off. If not, maybe no wax. If you buy apples directly from the market farmers they aren’t usually waxed. It is the ones that are stored for winter that are waxed and at the supermarkets.

Fran Kalichuk
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