It’s because they’re waxed, and the wax is sometimes beeswax. I find waxed food totally bizarre to begin with – not common where I’m from.
elefhino on
Fruits are often coated in wax containing beeswax and shellac(comes from bugs) to protect the fruit and make it look better. If you’ve ever seen fruit straight from the tree/vine/whatever, it has a matte, sort of spotty white coating, which is wax naturally produced by the fruit to protect it. When fruit is sold from an orchard or farm to a supplier, the fruit typically then gets dirt and other debris washed off, which takes the wax with it. A new wax is then applied in order to protect the fruit, and most of the time there’s also shellac to make it shiny
My guess is they normally get their limes unwashed directly from the grower, from a supplier that only works with restaurants/bars but not stores, or an organics/health food supplier or store
octarine_turtle on
A lot of fruit and vegetables is covered with shellac to increase shelf life (also used in many candies). Shellac comes from lac beetles and isn’t even vegetarian because it kills to be of lac beetles in the process. Stores aren’t required to even mention it. If your fruit or vegetables have a shine to them, that’s almost certainly shellac.
NatasEvoli on
The key word here is vegan, not vegetarian. Beeswax isn’t vegan
SuperSheep3000 on
Say Wetherspoons. Its Wetherspoons.
StuffedSquash on
I mean, kudos to them for giving information that people want. I am certain they are far from the only ones using waxed fruit.
6 Comments
It’s because they’re waxed, and the wax is sometimes beeswax. I find waxed food totally bizarre to begin with – not common where I’m from.
Fruits are often coated in wax containing beeswax and shellac(comes from bugs) to protect the fruit and make it look better. If you’ve ever seen fruit straight from the tree/vine/whatever, it has a matte, sort of spotty white coating, which is wax naturally produced by the fruit to protect it. When fruit is sold from an orchard or farm to a supplier, the fruit typically then gets dirt and other debris washed off, which takes the wax with it. A new wax is then applied in order to protect the fruit, and most of the time there’s also shellac to make it shiny
My guess is they normally get their limes unwashed directly from the grower, from a supplier that only works with restaurants/bars but not stores, or an organics/health food supplier or store
A lot of fruit and vegetables is covered with shellac to increase shelf life (also used in many candies). Shellac comes from lac beetles and isn’t even vegetarian because it kills to be of lac beetles in the process. Stores aren’t required to even mention it. If your fruit or vegetables have a shine to them, that’s almost certainly shellac.
The key word here is vegan, not vegetarian. Beeswax isn’t vegan
Say Wetherspoons. Its Wetherspoons.
I mean, kudos to them for giving information that people want. I am certain they are far from the only ones using waxed fruit.