Is There a Natural Alternative to Paraffin Wax? Good Questions

Q: Is there a natural alternative to paraffin wax for candy coating? I have made the most delicious pistachio cookies (Martha's recipe) that are dipped in chocolate but melt the minute you touch them.

The normal wax is full of artificial ingredients and chemicals, no thanks! I would love some tips!

Sent by Linds

Editor: Linds, this is a tricky one. Every candy coating we've ever seen has had at least a touch of wax or other semi-artificial ingredient to help keep the chocolate hardened. If you add a lot of wax to chocolate it compromises the taste and texture (hello cheap chocolate candy!). But we add a very small amount to some candies to mitigate the problem you're talking about here. Is it good for you? Probably not. Do we eat these candies very infrequently? Yes, so we feel OK with that tradeoff. But is it for everyone? No.

Readers, what is your experience using wax (and not using wax) in candies and dipped treats like these? Have you found any varieties of chocolate that hold up better at room temperature? Or any natural additives that keep it hard? We'd love some tips on this too; maybe we'll find a way to quit using wax altogether.

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Related: Recipe: D.I.Y. Buckeyes

(Image: Buy.com)

Comments (12)

How about cutting the chocolate with carob or using a darker variety?

If you temper your (pure, preferably high-cocoa-percentage) chocolate properly, it should set up smooth, glossy, with a good snap and won't melt immediately when you touch it. It can be kind of tricky, but Cooking for Engineers has pretty good instructions here: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/155/Tempering-Chocolate

I successfully did it this year for my candies, and it turned out great. No parafin needed!

Melt chocolate correctly and you don't have this problem.

Most people don't temper chocolate, so it breaks down really easily, just melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30-45 second bursts until ~75-80% of the chocolate is melted, and then just stir it until the rest is melted, then dip away, the chocolate will stay properly tempered and will melt at it's normal temperature (roughly 98 degrees, that's why M&M keeps saying it melts in your mouth not in your hand, external body temperature is closer to 95 or 96 degrees and won't melt chocolate as quickly).

Three hard fats, fully saturated come to mind: rendered beef suet, hardened coconut and palm oils, and european extra rich butter with its lower moisture content. I agree with comicgeek that darker chocolates are more solid and hold up to temperature variations.

I didn't see aaakids post. I looked it up and found this quote on this website:

"Beeswax is used in many high end candy creations. Jelly Belly Jelly beans use beeswax to coat their jelly beans in order to lock in the flavor. Haribo gold gummy bears is also one of my favorites."

http://www.texasdrone.com/Beeswax-Uses.htm#candy%20making

Just temper the chocolate!

Foolproof method (they taught us this in school AFTER we mastered the hardcore old-school French methods):
-bring a pot of water to a boil
-turn it off, put the chocolate in a bowl over it, and ignore for about 10 minutes
-when all the chocolate is melted except the middle, remove from the heat and stir to melt the rest
-stirring vigorously is important, and by the time the chocolate reaches the holding temperature, there should still be a few unmelted pieces
-the holding temperature for dark chocolate is 86-90, for white or milk it's 83-86 (as in, it should stay in that range while using)
-you can test if it's tempered by smearing a bit on a cool surface...if it sets up quickly and without streaks, you're good. if not, stir some more and maybe rewarm, then bring the temp back down with some new pieces of unmelted chocolate.

Just as a dark horse, I'll throw this one out there:
confectioner's glaze, or shellac. Makes a nice, shiny coating and it is technically all-natural... it's used on skittles and some gum.

But yes, correct tempering and/or just eat them fast!

I can't get over shellac/glaze being ground up insects. yuck!

My advice on tempering chocolate:

Chocolate melts BEFORE it loses its shape and form. You cannot just look at chocolate as you are heating it, you really need to heat and stir incrementally.

Kakugori--
Skittles don't contain confectioner's glaze. Well, the American ones don't. I don't know about elsewhere.