# How do You Remove Wax from Veggies?



## Hopz (Apr 11, 2006)

So, the question is, how do you remove the wax from your veggies, such as cucumbers?

I realize most of the time we don't do the removal thing, but in case you wanted to preserve or pickle something, it would be required, right?
So how?
Dish Soap, Oxyclean, isopropol alcohol, methyl-ethyl ketone?


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## amber (Apr 12, 2006)

I've made pickles before and never removed the wax.


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## Run_Out (Apr 12, 2006)

I wash all veggies in the sink with a couple TBL spoons of vinegar. It won"t get the wax off but it will make sure they are clean...

Later


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## Nortbort (Apr 12, 2006)

I've always used dish soap, seem's to get all the wax off for me.


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## auntdot (Apr 12, 2006)

Never bother.

It has never bothered me on the larger cukes. Just eat them washed with the wax.

And the smaller Kirby type, which most people use for pickling, are never waxed.  The wax will not let in the pickling liquid into the cuke if you leave them whole, so it is not an issue.

Course can always pickle the larger ones as spears without a problem.

Enjoy.


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## jkath (Apr 12, 2006)

(am I the only one who peels my cukes?)
PS - chopped up and tossed with rice vinegar is my favorite.


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## Michael in FtW (Apr 12, 2006)

I'm with Auntdot on this ...

The smaller "pickeling" cukes (Kirby's) are not going to be coated with wax. But, you're also probably not going to find them in your average grocery store. I have to get mine from a Farmer's Market - and usually have to make arrangements in advance. Another option would be to buy "organic" cukes - they will not be waxed.

If you're going to use a big salad cuke to make B&B pickles ... you're going to slice them so getting rid of the wax isn't a big deal since they will absobe the pickleing from the flesh side.

But - here is one method to rid the skins of wax: soak for 5-10 minutes in a 1:1 solution of water and distilled vinegar - then scrub with a vegetable brush, and rinse under running water.

There are also commercial products that claim to do this, too ... you'll have to follow their label instructions.


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## Hopz (Apr 12, 2006)

Yes, Michael when I lived in Houston, the farmers markets were the ticket... we now live in northern Utah. 
The farmers market does not even open until middle June. Cukes, of any variety do not appear until later in the season.
I found a package of 3, beautiful, seedless cukes at Target for something like $3.50... I don't think so!

So, I will try to wash the wax off the salad cukes and pickle them until the farmers market comes around.


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## Claire (Apr 15, 2006)

As far as I'm concerned,the only way to remove the wax on grocery store cukes is to peel them, period.  But I agree with everyone, above.  Buy the pickling cukes when you can get them.  Ironically, the only place I can get them for most of the year is that behomath we all love to hate, Wal-Mart.  The local farmer's markets often don't grow them to sell even seasonally.  For some reason they love their vegetables gigantic and with huge seeds and tough skins.  I've lived here for 5 years, and used the same farmers marketers, and asked over and over if they'd pick and sell small cukes and summer squash, yet when I go down to the market, there are these gigantic ones with seeds so big ... well, let's say it's a good thing I don't have diverticlitis, and I am cornered back into chain grocers for produce that could be easily produced here.  Yes, I am doing some of it myself, but I'd like to support my local growers.


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## joiei (Apr 15, 2006)

jkath said:
			
		

> (am I the only one who peels my cukes?)
> PS - chopped up and tossed with rice vinegar is my favorite.


 
I peel then also, no matter what they are being used for and no matter if they come from a market or from the garden.


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## licia (Apr 16, 2006)

We can get the small cucumbers year round here and they aren't waxed. I use them peeled and unpeeled. I like unpeeled in a cucumber sandwich, or a salad. I don't ever get the ones with large seeds. I see people buy those and wonder if they just don't know how much better the little ones are and you don't need to remove any seeds.


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## velochic (Apr 16, 2006)

Hopz said:
			
		

> So, the question is, how do you remove the wax from your veggies, such as cucumbers?
> 
> I realize most of the time we don't do the removal thing, but in case you wanted to preserve or pickle something, it would be required, right?
> So how?
> Dish Soap, Oxyclean, isopropol alcohol, methyl-ethyl ketone?



Go ORGANIC.  That way you don't have to introduce new chemicals to remove the other chemicals.


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## BlueCat (Apr 16, 2006)

jkath said:
			
		

> (am I the only one who peels my cukes?)
> PS - chopped up and tossed with rice vinegar is my favorite.


 
Nope - I peel them too.  Gets rid of the wax every time.

BC


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## Hopz (Apr 16, 2006)

How does peeling a cucumber effect the pickling process?


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## Caine (Apr 16, 2006)

I normally use this -->


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## velochic (Apr 17, 2006)

Is that floor or furniture wax stripper, Caine?  How hilarious!!    That made me smile!


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## buckytom (Apr 17, 2006)

velochic said:
			
		

> Go ORGANIC. That way you don't have to introduce new chemicals to remove the other chemicals.


 
aaaaaaaa-men!!!!   i've had an organic garden for about 10 years now (it was an "ortho" special before), and after the first few years of poor soil and bug infestations, it produces almost as much but far superior vegetables to my chemical ridden neighbors. i would submit that if they were organic as well, overall problems would be minimized for all of us. i have had a few years recently in particular that my neighbors' peppers were devastated by some kind of weevil, but mine were left alone, for the most part.

i'm a firm believer that once you begin to introduce chemicals to control certain aspects of production, you can upset the delicate balance of natural development. it may work in your favor for several years, but that is really only building up the price that will be paid back in some other way, some other year.


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## Hopz (Apr 17, 2006)

After a BFO...(Blinding Flash of the Obvious)... I googled the subject of waxing vegetables...

Manufacturers of this "natural" wax basically say you cannot effectively remove it... so there.


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## GB (Apr 17, 2006)

This would probaby be WAY more effort than it is worth, but what about gently scraping it off with a knife?


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## Gretchen (Apr 17, 2006)

Wash with soap and water.


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