zesting waxed citrus fruits?

I bought a bag of key limes at People's Market and plan to make a pie tonight. Of course my recipe calls for lime zest, but I noticed the limes are waxed (not surprising). I've had this come up before with other recipes and just scrubbed the fruit in question before zesting, but does anyone know more about the wax and/or removing it? I don't like the thought of wax in my food, but I don't really want to forego the zest either. Thanks.

Hi,

There has been discussion of key lime pie earlier which may be of interest.

I don't know what to say about the wax. I would consider it food safe, though whether it is desireable is another thing. I know waxy cucumbers are always peeled in my household.

Recently, I made a Whole Lemon Tart following Dorie Greenspan's recipe in Paris Sweets. What was a new concept to me was the use of the whole lemon. An average sized lemon weighing 4.5 ounces was rinsed and dried. You then cut it into thin slices ostensibly to detect and remove the seeds. You put the lemon slices and sugar into a blender for 1-2 minutes until thoroughly pureed.

Sometime later, I discussed this technique with a friend who is an avid Key Lime Pie fan. He disclosed he does the same thing, pureeing the entire key lime together with the condensed sweetened milk. Later he adds the egg yolks to finish. He said pureeing the entire Key Lime creates a very intensely flavored pie, which he enjoys. You may want to consider trying this.

Regards,

Unless you refuse to eat candy bars, you can't really claim to be worried about eating wax. How do you think they get melty, buttery chocolate to maintain that firm shape and candle-like texture?

Wash it off as best you can, then don't worry about it.

Mike G wrote:Unless you refuse to eat candy bars, you can't really claim to be worried about eating wax. How do you think they get melty, buttery chocolate to maintain that firm shape and candle-like texture?

Wash it off as best you can, then don't worry about it.

I would suggest using hot water and a very small amount of dish soap which should help loosen the wax. Rinse very well.

Persnonally, I've never thought of this and frequently just rinse fruit.

Cathy2 wrote:Recently, I made a Whole Lemon Tart following Dorie Greenspan's recipe in Paris Sweets. What was a new concept to me was the use of the whole lemon. An average sized lemon weighing 4.5 ounces was rinsed and dried. You then cut it into thin slices ostensibly to detect and remove the seeds. You put the lemon slices and sugar into a blender for 1-2 minutes until thoroughly pureed.

I've made an Orange and Olive Oil cake from Nancy Harmon-Jenkins' recipe in The Essential Mediterranean using the same method of pureeing the whole orange. She recommends slicing off the thickest parts of the peel at the top and bottom of the fruit since they contribute too much pith and bitterness. Limes might not have that problem since the peels tend to be thin, but I would be careful to remove seeds and stems.

rien