A way to make solid olive oil-based candles has been developed by an inventor in Israel.
Avi Kosovski-Shahor, from Modi’in Illit, is said to have found an alternative to other methods that use only small concentrations of olive oil and usually result in “semi-solid, jelly-like candles.”
According to a patent application before the World Intellectual Property Organization, present olive oil candles are mostly in a jelly or pseudo-ointment state, and usually in housings to maintain the candle’s structure.
However, the invention provides for a solid olive oil candle, “containing relatively large concentrations of olive oil, wherein the candle is sufficiently solid to enable a user of the candle to hold the candle in his hand, and/or to make use of the candle without requiring any housings and/or structure supports of any kind.”
The patent application says that in the Jewish religion there is a strong preference for using olive oil when lighting candles “as it is considered a tool for the beautification of a ritual.”
“Particularly, when lighting the Shabbat and Chanukkah candles, as olive oil is easily drawn into the wick, its light burns clearly, and to commemorate the fact that the miracle of Chanukkah happened with olive oil.”
However, using olive oil for lighting candles is not necessarily easy. Indeed, it “places a heavy burden on the practitioners of a certain ritual as it involves somehow combining the liquid olive oil with the solid waxed candle prior to lighting,” the application claims.
The solution involves a composition preferably containing paraffin and an amount of olive oil of no less than 12 percent — but preferably at least 50 percent — weight per weight of the entire composition.
“Preferably, one or more anti-oxidizing agents are added to the olive oil, e.g., to prevent oxidation of the olive oil, and provide longer shelf life for the resulting solid olive oil candle.”
The method is said to involve melting paraffin in a first container and warming olive oil in a second container then adding the liquid paraffin to the olive oil in the second container and pouring the resulting mixture into molds.
A solid olive oil candle possessing a density of at least 750 gr/cm3 can thereby be produced.
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