Wax has been a valuable commodity for over 2000 years. In ancient times beeswax was used for softening skin, binding together reeds used for flutes, coating and preserving valuable objects, candle production and making sculpture and statues of highly regarded public figure.
Examples of waxes include beeswax, candelilla wax, carnauba wax, lanolin, liquid lanolin and jojoba wax.
The ancient Egyptians used beeswax to make writing tablets and models, and waxes are now described as man’s first plastic.
Egyptian already used the beeswax candle during the New Kingdom of Egypt (1567-1085 BC).
Indeed, the plastic property of waxes and cold flow yield values allow manual working at room temperature corresponding to the practices of the Egyptians.
About 700 BC, Homer recorded the plasticity of beeswax in Book XII of the Odyssey: Odysseus King of Ithaca used it to ensure that his sailors would be deaf to the song of the Sirens on an island near the Italian coast.
In China, the wax has been used to retard desiccation of citrus fruits since the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The Chinese noted that the waxes slowed water loss and caused fermentation.
Hot melt paraffin waxes have been used to coat citrus fruits in the United States since the 1930s, and carnauba wax and oil in water emulsion have been used for coating fresh fruits and vegetables since the 1950s.
Waxes of simple lipid in history
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