In this video, TalkingScience’s own kitchen chemists make a candle using an almond and an apple.

Materials
An apple
A knife
An almond
A match or lighter

Procedure
1. Cut the top and bottom of the apple off
2. Cut the almond into the shape of a wick
3. Stick wick in the apple
4. Light the candle
5. When you blow it out, eat it!

What Happened?
For a fire to occur there must be three things: energy (usually heat), oxygen and fuel. In a wax candle, the wax vapor is the fuel while the fuel in the edible candle is the almond. Almonds contain proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Lighting an almond on fire releases the stored chemical energy in these fats, proteins and carbohydrates as heat. Because almonds contain a high percentage of fat and fat contains a lot of stored chemical energy, the almond can burn for quite some time (just like a candle wick!)