Knowledge Base › Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Do you remove the wax from citrus fruits before zesting? It seems that there are about 27 different fruit/vegetables that may be waxed. It is concerning.

Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Recorded

This event was on April 15, 2025

Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to course-specific questions, to how to turn your cooking passion into profit or simply hearing the perspective of a professional chef, Chef Nolan is ready to answer them all.

View Event Details

Question

Diane Dankert

Do you remove the wax from citrus fruits before zesting? It seems that there are about 27 different fruit/vegetables that may be waxed. It is concerning.

Answer

You want to remove the wax. There are two ways. Uh, one is that you're going to take a bamboo skewer and you're going to stick the skewer into the lemon. Let's say you're using a lemon, and then you're going to have a basin in your sink, and then you're going to pour over about two cups of hot water or boiling water. And when you pour it over, you will actually see this sort of waxy silt land in the water. So washing them with very, very hot or boiling water, but you don't wanna get yourself burned. So make sure that you're using a skewer or you could use tongs or something else like that, that will help. But that's a really, that's a really valid question. And um, you know, it always makes me think about when we eat out, how do we know that someone has, um, cleaned the lemon peel before they put lemon zest as a, as a garnish or curl or whatever.

Char Nolan

Chef Instructor

Char Nolan is a serious crusader for plant-based education, armed with a degree in public health from Philadelphia’s Temple University. She teaches nutrition and plant-based cooking throughout Philadelphia, and in many underserved communities. Char holds a certificate in plant-based nutrition from eCornell and completed Rouxbe’s Plant-Based Professional Certification course in 2015. In 2019, Char completed post-graduate course work in social media marketing at the University of the Arts. When she is not cooking or teaching, she manages social media accounts for several plant-based influencers. Char prides herself on learning everything she knows about cooking from growing up in her grandparents’ Italian restaurant. Her favorite vegetables are Brussels sprouts and kale, of course. Char originally hails from Queens, NY, but has lived in Philadelphia most of her adult life. She is a former Peace Corps Volunteer.