I'm too busy to give a weekend update (coming later), so here's a brief thought. I was trying to peel an apple - one of those shiny Granny Smiths - and the peeler didn't catch the peeling, but did scrape off some wax. So I started scraping the apple and ended up with a big pile of wax. If you eat one of those shiny apples, then you are eating a lot of wax, also. That does not seem healthy, in my opinion. They are probably waxing the apples to make them look good. Or perhaps it helps to preserve their shelf life?

At the Pepper Place farmer's market, I bought a bunch of Ginger Golds and they weren't shiny. Whole Foods also sells apples in their natural state.

It's just another reason (of many) why locally grown produce is so much better.