Why Is Store-Bought Fruit Coated In Wax?

When you were younger, you may have gone to an elderly relative's house and, feeling peckish and not particularly craving butterscotch, reached for an enticing-looking apple sitting in a bowl. Hopefully, someone warned you the apples were fake before you took a bite: wax apples and other fruits are (or were) common decorations. But you may not know that the fruit you buy from the supermarket is also covered in wax — edible wax, yes, but wax all the same. When did this start, and why? After all, most freshly picked fruit is perfectly edible, even if it would do you good to run it under some water before you take a bite. So why is the wax necessary? Because, despite the various "ugly produce" sales you'll find, we generally want our food to look nice —  and because the wax preserves the fruit as well as beautifying it.

Some manner of edible fruit wax has been used since China in the 12th century (albeit for the purpose of causing fermentation), but the process was patented for preservation in America in 1922 by Ernest Brogden, who formulated a fruit coating made of wax and kerosene. Nowadays, the coating is made primarily of carnauba wax, which comes from the leaves of palm trees; other ingredients may include shellac, resin, beeswax, and/or paraffin. If all of this sounds unnatural, don't worry. When fruit is on its tree, it's coated in a natural, vaguely powder-like white coating, which protects it from the elements. Artificial wax is just a way of making sure the fruit remains protected once it's been picked and its natural coating has worn off.

If a piece of fruit is left unwaxed, it will gradually lose moisture, a process that eventually leads to spoilage. By dipping the fruit in wax, it will lose moisture at a much slower rate, allowing for easier transport, sale, and use. (Then again, dried fruit can last much longer than even waxed fruit.) The wax may also contain fungicides to keep mold from growing. It goes without saying, too, that the wax will also make the fruit look shinier, glossier, and more appetizing. As much as we all love going to an orchard for apple picking in the fall, most of us will reach for a picture-perfect glossy apple over a less photogenic unwaxed apple. Heck, if the waxed fruit comes in a fishnet-style bag, it might just cause beauty overload.

If you're worried about the effect this wax might have on your digestive system, don't be. In fact, the wax isn't digested at all; it passes harmlessly through you while your body breaks down the nutrients provided by the fruit. (It has this in common with fruit stickers.) And the application process is so efficient that just a gallon of wax can be used to coat 10,000 oranges.