Buying plastic free cheese is not so easy. But waxed cheeses are becoming more available, and cheaper. So is this a viable alternative to plastic wrapped? And what actually is in that wax?
Waxed cheeses are covered with a mix of paraffin and microcrystalline wax
Both are petroleum based.
The wax is coloured with food grade colours.
For example Babybel have this to say about their wax:
”What is Mini Babybel®’s wax made of? The wax we use to coat our products is made of a blend of paraffin and microcrystalline waxes and colouring, which specifically contains no Bisphenol A. It’s “food safe” and meets very strict regulatory standards.It poses no health risk if accidentally ingested.”
But still …..
Paraffin? Yikes. However paraffin is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in food, cosmetics, and medical applications. Food-grade paraffin is commonly used for manufacturing candles. For this and other interesting candle facts, visit this websiteHERE
Microcrystalline wax? What? “is a refined mixture of solid, saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons, and produced by de-oiling certain fractions from the petroleum refining process. ….. Microcrystalline waxes are tougher, more flexible and generally higher in melting point than paraffin wax. The fine crystal structure also enables microcrystalline wax to bind solvents or oil, and thus prevent the sweating-out of compositions.”
Microcrystalline wax is often used in industries such as tire and rubber, candles, adhesives, corrugated board, cosmetics, castings, and others
Other uses for parafin and microcrystalline wax include
Baby Oil – a liquid paraffin,
Vaseline® – a microcrystalline wax
But back to cheese. So we go with the wax covered cheese. And of course the wax can be easily peeled off. But then what to do with it?
Composting
This wax is not labelled home compostable but..
According to the dominator wax website The Biodegradable Products Institute has concluded that the natural and synthetic paraffins of the types included in snow sports waxes are biodegradable. Microcrystalline waxes, including those used in snow sports waxes, are biodegradable/compostable.
And paraffin is biodegradable “The wax components, n-and iso-alkanes with up to 50 carbon units were found to be rapidly and completely degraded within 28 days” reade more here
Candle Making
I heard of people who have used it to make candles. That cheesy aroma can only add to any romantic evening.
Firelighters
I use it as firelighters. For which it is extremely good.
More
More wax facts here
Plastic free cheesemakers can use beeswax to seal their cheeses according to curd nerd Read more here
