Hi!

A friend recently gave me a recipe for cookies with peanut butter, corn
flakes & chocolate, and one of the ingredients in the recipe was WAX.
Now it surprised me at first, having never used that in cooking and having
never eaten wax, but i was wondering if it's something any of you
had encountered and if so, what kind of wax should is recommended and where
to buy it? I know there's paraffin on sale at the grocery store, but
is that ok to be used for cooking??

Thanks in advance

btw, this is a serious post... for any who would think i'm kidding (like
some friends who i asked the same questions)

"Leph28" > wrote in message
news
> Hi!
>
> A friend recently gave me a recipe for cookies with peanut butter, corn
> flakes & chocolate, and one of the ingredients in the recipe was WAX.
> Now it surprised me at first, having never used that in cooking and having
> never eaten wax, but i was wondering if it's something any of you
> had encountered and if so, what kind of wax should is recommended and
where
> to buy it? I know there's paraffin on sale at the grocery store, but
> is that ok to be used for cooking??
>
> Thanks in advance

Unfortunately, you aren't kidding. The classic recipe for "buckeyes"
(peanut butter centers dipped in chocolate) also includes wax. The specific
wax used in these recipes is paraffin wax that is sold along side canning
supplies in grocery and discount stores. The most common brand in my area is
"Gulf Wax." It is sold in one pound packages that consist of 4 slabs of
wax.

As far as I can tell, the wax is added to prevent blooming of the chocolate
and perhaps to make it more fluid when melted. I'm sure someone here can be
more informative. The question, in my opinion, is whether this is the best
approach to the problem. In very small quantities, it is probably harmless
but I don't think that the wax is intended to be eaten, and I always wonder
how pure a product like paraffin can be. That is, are there trace amounts
of nasty things like benzene?

To be safe, I would suggest that you try using a more natural product.
Specifically, a hydrogenated palm oil shortening would do the same thing.
Yes, I know that hydrogenated tropical oils aren't healthy, but I think they
would be a better choice than a petroleum based product. You can purchase
shortenings specifically designed for chocolate work at cake and candy
supply houses. Here is a link to the Sugarcraft page where you can find
"Paramount Crystal Flakes" to use instead of paraffin.
http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/ca...olate.htm#para

I know many years ago, when I was first working chocolate, some recipes did
put a small percentage of paraffin wax into the melting chocolate, it's
suppose to firm up the chocolate I believe, I didn't like the idea so never
used it.
Chocolate is tricky stuff to work with I find....... qahtan

"Leph28" > wrote in message
news
> Hi!
>
> A friend recently gave me a recipe for cookies with peanut butter, corn
> flakes & chocolate, and one of the ingredients in the recipe was WAX.
> Now it surprised me at first, having never used that in cooking and having
> never eaten wax, but i was wondering if it's something any of you
> had encountered and if so, what kind of wax should is recommended and
> where
> to buy it? I know there's paraffin on sale at the grocery store, but
> is that ok to be used for cooking??
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> btw, this is a serious post... for any who would think i'm kidding (like
> some friends who i asked the same questions)
>
>

"qahtan" > wrote in message
. ..
> I know many years ago, when I was first working chocolate, some recipes
did
> put a small percentage of paraffin wax into the melting chocolate, it's
> suppose to firm up the chocolate I believe, I didn't like the idea so
never
> used it.
> Chocolate is tricky stuff to work with I find....... qahtan

Yes. I think that if you don't want to use a shortening designed for
chocolate, it would be better to use compound coating. Wax would be my
choice of last resort.

On Tue, 07 Dec 2004 00:14:50 GMT
"Vox Humana" > wrote:


> To be safe, I would suggest that you try using a more natural product.
> Specifically, a hydrogenated palm oil shortening would do the same thing.
> Yes, I know that hydrogenated tropical oils aren't healthy, but I think
> they would be a better choice than a petroleum based product. You can
> purchase shortenings specifically designed for chocolate work at cake and
> candy supply houses. Here is a link to the Sugarcraft page where you can
> find"Paramount Crystal Flakes" to use instead of paraffin.


Carnauba wax is an ingredient in most candies these days, and is made
from the leaves of the carnauba palm, so, your suggestion seems pretty much
on base.

Locust bean gum too - it's no nastier than carob . . . . . .

>As far as I can tell, the wax is added to prevent blooming of the
chocolate

Chocolate does not contain wax.
I have made real chocolate in pilot plant scale ( up to 50 kg total
batch weight)using the Macintyre refiner / conch and the ingredients
used are chocolate liquor sugar,,cocoa butter, lecithin and
polyglycerol polyricinoleate(PGPR) and vanilla powder.
In some formulation I add sorbitan mono and tri stearate as
anti-blooming agents.In particular in compound coatings.
In the same machinery I have formulated and made various chocolate
related products such as milk.soy, sugar free, coatings, praline paste
etc.
I could never remember that there is the so called wax added to it.
BTW, the cocoa butter is really hard like rock, is this what you call
as wax.<g>?
On the other hand....
I had also experienced making panned confectionery goods related to M&M
candies,jelly beans, dragees etc and indeed one of the ingredients used
in the end to make the finished product glossy is a glazing agent
containing and emulsion of beeswax and carnauba wax. But those things
are approved for food use.
As far as I can remember I have never heard that paraffin wax is part
of the chocolate manufacture.
IF we have to look into the physical chemistry of chocolates, the
incorporation of incompantible fat may even promote fat bloom, that is
why you cannot add cocoa butter incompatible fat such as hardened palm
kernel oil(HPKO) that is used in chocolate compound manufacture.;rather
use a compatible cocoa butter alternative(CBE) that exhibits similar
triglyceride pattern as the cocoa butter so that it will maintain the
desired fat polymorphism of cocoa butter .Therefore chocolate will come
out satisfactorily.

>and perhaps to make it more fluid when melted.

Now to make it more fluid during spinning of easter egg and bunny
molds( chocolate will spread evenly) what is added is a minute
amounts of a liquid emulsifier which I mentioned above as PGPR. That
will technically improved the Caissons yield value and plastic
viscosity of the finished chocolates.Or in short improved the fluidity
of the chocolate so that it will spread evenly on the molds to
maintain consistency in large scale molded chocolates manufacture.
Roy

"Vox Humana" > wrote in
:

>
> "Leph28" > wrote in message
> news
>> Hi!
>>
>> A friend recently gave me a recipe for cookies with peanut butter, corn
>> flakes & chocolate, and one of the ingredients in the recipe was WAX.
>> Now it surprised me at first, having never used that in cooking and
>> having never eaten wax, but i was wondering if it's something any of
>> you had encountered and if so, what kind of wax should is recommended
>> and where to buy it? I know there's paraffin on sale at the grocery
>> store, but is that ok to be used for cooking??
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>
> Unfortunately, you aren't kidding. The classic recipe for "buckeyes"
> (peanut butter centers dipped in chocolate) also includes wax. The
> specific wax used in these recipes is paraffin wax that is sold along
> side canning supplies in grocery and discount stores. The most common
> brand in my area is "Gulf Wax." It is sold in one pound packages that
> consist of 4 slabs of wax.
>
> As far as I can tell, the wax is added to prevent blooming of the
> chocolate and perhaps to make it more fluid when melted. I'm sure
> someone here can be more informative. The question, in my opinion, is

Wax is sometimes specified in homemade chocolate candies to make the
chocolate firmer and less susceptible to melting.

A fair number of cheaper commercials chocolate candies also contain wax for
the same reason.

> whether this is the best approach to the problem. In very small
> quantities, it is probably harmless but I don't think that the wax is
> intended to be eaten, and I always wonder how pure a product like
> paraffin can be. That is, are there trace amounts of nasty things like
> benzene?
>
> To be safe, I would suggest that you try using a more natural product.
> Specifically, a hydrogenated palm oil shortening would do the same
> thing. Yes, I know that hydrogenated tropical oils aren't healthy, but I
> think they would be a better choice than a petroleum based product. You
> can purchase shortenings specifically designed for chocolate work at
> cake and candy supply houses. Here is a link to the Sugarcraft page
> where you can find "Paramount Crystal Flakes" to use instead of
> paraffin. http://www.sugarcraft.com/catalog/ca...olate.htm#para
>
>
>
>



--
Wayne in Phoenix

*If there's a nit to pick, some nitwit will pick it.
*A mind is a terrible thing to lose.

That sounds odd Wayne.....
if what you mean is 'tropicalizing' the chocolates to be stable to
abnormal storage temperatures that is common with tropical climate,
then what is to be added there is not pure wax.... but some kind of
higher melting point fat that contains cocoa butter compatible
triglycerides .
Indeed those chocoalates that contains such higher melting point fat
had a somewaht waxy mouthfeel.but still edible.
And what you mean as cheaper chocolates are not real chocolates but are
made from compounds or coatings which does not contain cocoa butter
but cocoa butter alternative.fat
that is made by combining cocoa liqour, cocoabutter alternative fat(
usually lauric fats), sugar, vanillin and lecithin and even sorbitan
mono and tristearate.It is milled and refined like chocoalte but in a
shorter duration.
Beside a true wax has a different chemical constitution than normal
triglycerides used in confectionery manufacture.
Roy
..

"Roy" > wrote in news:1102395769.412489.47830
@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

> That sounds odd Wayne.....
> if what you mean is 'tropicalizing' the chocolates to be stable to
> abnormal storage temperatures that is common with tropical climate,
> then what is to be added there is not pure wax.... but some kind of
> higher melting point fat that contains cocoa butter compatible
> triglycerides .
> Indeed those chocoalates that contains such higher melting point fat
> had a somewaht waxy mouthfeel.but still edible.
> And what you mean as cheaper chocolates are not real chocolates but are
> made from compounds or coatings which does not contain cocoa butter
> but cocoa butter alternative.fat
> that is made by combining cocoa liqour, cocoabutter alternative fat(
> usually lauric fats), sugar, vanillin and lecithin and even sorbitan
> mono and tristearate.It is milled and refined like chocoalte but in a
> shorter duration.
> Beside a true wax has a different chemical constitution than normal
> triglycerides used in confectionery manufacture.
> Roy

On the whole, Roy, you're probably right. Although I can't quote the
product (I've forgotten), I remember seeing wax on the ingredient list of
some inexpensive chocolates.

--
Wayne in Phoenix

*If there's a nit to pick, some nitwit will pick it.
*A mind is a terrible thing to lose.

Sorry.......
>which does not contain cocoa butter
but cocoa butter alternative.fat
I think I made an error here..... the 10/12 cocoa powder used as the
base for such compound formulations also contains that amount of cocoa
butter in the prefix.
But that is the maximum limit of the amount of cocoa butter present
that will not affect the quality of the end product- compound coatings.

>that is made by combining cocoa liqour,cocoa butter alternative,
etc...
Darn.....
Another error.....what is used is actually cocoa powder(10/12 type)
instead of cocoa /chocolate liqour.
Roy

Maybe you should forget all about this recipe and make some thing else.
:-)))
qahtan


"Vox Humana" > wrote in message
...
>
> "qahtan" > wrote in message
> . ..
>> I know many years ago, when I was first working chocolate, some recipes
> did
>> put a small percentage of paraffin wax into the melting chocolate, it's
>> suppose to firm up the chocolate I believe, I didn't like the idea so
> never
>> used it.
>> Chocolate is tricky stuff to work with I find....... qahtan
>
> Yes. I think that if you don't want to use a shortening designed for
> chocolate, it would be better to use compound coating. Wax would be my
> choice of last resort.
>
>

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> >As far as I can tell, the wax is added to prevent blooming of the
> chocolate
>
> Chocolate does not contain wax.

Yes. But the OP wanted to add wax to chocolate as is the practice of many
home candy makers. I wasn't suggesting that you could buy real chocolate or
even chocolate (compound) coatings that already contained wax.

After thinking about it, I remembered that cocoa butter would be a good
substitute for the paraffin wax. Again, I would look at a cake and candy
supply house for a substitute.

Hardened fat flakes such as hydrogenated palm or cottonseed oil are
high melting point fat( similar to wax) and if you add it to your
recipe you will come up also with a waxy mouthfeel and taste.
But I will never think about adding petroleum derived high melting
point hydrocarbons as a food additive if there is an altnernative for
such.
Anyway there is a so called wax coating such as applied in fruits but
the desired material for such application is the so called acetylated
monoglyceride which confer the same protection as wax.And this special
monoglyceride is well recognized food additive.
Going back to the OP problem of adding wax to cookies,
>A friend recently gave me a recipe for cookies with peanut butter,
corn
>flakes & chocolate, and one of the ingredients in the recipe was WAX.
It his prerogative if he wants to...but its a bit odd.
>From the point of GMP( good manufacturing practice as applied to baked
goods) its not advisable to do so.
He wants something to simulate the wax effect then let him try the
paramount crystal flakes which is more edible to think about than plain
paraffin wax.
But if he only wants to understand about the so called wax in
chocolates; well some chocolate morsels that are panned and appears
glossy really contain wax....as I mentioned earlier.....carnauba or
beeswax..... but that is plant and animal derived so more appealing to
think about.


If he plan to add M&M in his cookies to make it colorful then indeed
there is wax in it!
Roy

(Please NOTE: My correct e-mail address is in my Signature) On Tue, 07
Dec 2004 05:13:29 GMT, during the rec.food.baking Community News Flash
Wayne Boatwright > reported:

>I remember seeing wax on the ingredient list of
>some inexpensive chocolates.

That will teach you to buy crap chocolate!

--
Davida Chazan (The Chocolate Lady)
<davidac AT jdc DOT org DOT il>
~*~*~*~*~*~
"What you see before you, my friend, is the result of a lifetime of
chocolate."
--Katharine Hepburn (May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003)
~*~*~*~*~*~
Links to my published poetry - http://davidachazan.homestead.com/
~*~*~*~*~*~