One is covered in heat-resistant silicone, the other is covered in flammable wax.
WTF. I never knew this. All this time I thought I was being responsible using parchment paper. I did not know it was silicone coated damnit. Need to look for other options now.
It’s really grocery stores fault. They sell them right next to each other and often have like 8 different brand choices of one but only 1 or 2 of the other which is nestled somewhere inbetween the others.
It’s an American language fault. Parchment paper is called baking paper elsewhere. You can’t make a mistake when choosing between baking paper and non baking paper.
Parchment is something you write on, as far as I’m concerned.
I’m just glad I live in an area that calls carbonated beverages “pop”. I can only imagine the mix-ups that could’ve occurred when trying to use baking soda otherwise.
I was reading this and thinking how come you even have two papers to choose from. Baking paper goes in the oven and parchment… isn’t that like an animal skin you write on? I don’t think I’ve ever used wax paper for anything, so I can’t imagine what that’s for.
Wax paper is non-stick so has a lot of different uses as long as you aren’t heating it up. For example you could put some down while you roll out cookie dough if you don’t want to clean flour off your countertop. Can use it to make decorations for your baked goods like chocolate strings or something similar. Drizzle the melted chocolate on the wax paper and once it cools and hardens it will come right off.
I think I may have heard of that stuff. Something like 70 years ago people used to buy food items in bulk, so you needed to package your block of butter somehow. Wax paper was used back in those days. Since food manufacturers started packaging the products, the demand for wax paper dropped to near zero, so that’s why you don’t really encounter it much any more.
I’m sure some stores still sell it, but baking paper is so easily available that people just use that instead. Nowadays people would just use baking paper for the examples you just gave.
Edit: just went to the local supermarket and I found 15 stacks of normal baking paper on the shelf (at least 8 different brands) and one stack of wax paper. Apparently it hasn’t disappeared completely. Someone must be still using it for something.
And I have yet to see a single one with a giant badge that says “not for oven use!” Moreover, wax paper is always marketed as “microwave safe.” I know a microwave is not an oven, but it’s not ludicrous to equate the two.
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Image Transcription:
Tumblr post by user turing-tested: guess who just found out the difference between wax paper and parchment paper the hard way Reply by user vraska-theunseen: wait what’s the difference? Reply by user turing-tested: one you can use in the oven safely and the other you can also use in the oven if the thing you are trying to make happens to be fire
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Yeah, wax paper is basically an unrolled candle.
Good human!
Thank you!
Also each of them resists different type of foods better. Wax paper will hold up to wet food, and parchment paper holds up better to oily food.
This is not anything I can prove just personal experience so take it with a grain of salt
And let’s not forget about butcher’s paper. Also totally different application but still no oven.
Which one holds up better to a grain of salt? Should I use aluminum foil for that?
No, calcium chloride actually corrodes aluminum.
I recently got “food wrapping paper” for bundling up sandwiches, it is still coated but has just enough stickiness left for tape to hold it shut.
Previously I was using parchment paper and if you wanted to hold it shut you needed to use a rubber band or run the tape all the way around to stick back to itself.
Reusable baking sheet liners are pretty cool.
The El cheapo Amazon knockoff ones are pretty good now. The gold standard are Silpat.
Yeah but forever chemicals
Wealthy people fly their private jets to get cigarettes, I’m not losing sleep over my baking sheet liners I’ll probably have for the rest of my life.
In Germany we just take regular “Backpapier” (literally “baking paper”) and put it in the oven.
It’s basically just Polytetrafluroethylene, better known as PTFE or Teflon™You’re telling me that one of the reasons that water is globally polluted with PFAs is because Germans love David Hasselho… I mean, because German parchment paper is coated in Teflon? EDIT: google says that the vast majority of parchment paper is silicone coated, not teflon. I was starting to get a justice arrhythmia, I can calm down a bit now.
I’m sorry. I don’t mean PTFE, but PFOA, but apparently it’s forbidden since 2021. I’m sorry for spreading outdated information
You’re not supposed to flush your parchment paper.
Come to the UK. We have foil.
We’ve got it too but we pronounce it right.
Who fucking calls foil “right”?!
How do they say foil in the UK?
I don’t think wax paper goes in the oven either
As someone who doesn’t cook, now I’m not clear on which you don’t put in the oven, and what kind of paper you are supposed to use.
Why are people putting paper in the oven?
Prevents the thing you’re cooking from basically getting fused to the metal pan.
Works better than non-stick, and keeps the pan clean enough for immediate reuse, which is really nice e.g. if you’re baking multiple batches of cookies for a holiday event
That’s what disposable baking sheets are, though
Nah. Parchment paper goes into the oven, that’s another name for baking sheets. Waxed paper is used to wrap your sandwich. If you put waxed paper in the oven – well, see picture above.
FYI, some baking paper contains PFAS, the group of chemicals that also PTFE (aka Teflon) belongs to, which is… not good.
Been while since I bought waxed paper, is it cheaper than parchment paper? I’m assuming it must be or why wouldn’t you just use parchment paper instead?
Parchment is better for heat, wax paper is better with sticky stuff. My mom uses it to roll cookie dough into cylinders. Then she can refrigerate them and unroll it cleanly to cut into discs so she doesn’t have to form dough balls by hand. If you need a permanently-non-stick, moldable surface, wax paper is pretty good.
Oh cool. That’s a great example of a usecase. Thanks
Wax and parchment paper have VERY similar branding in the US, to the point where it’s easy to confuse the two
Don’t know, don’t use baking paper at all
I’ve seen those under pizzas, but those look to be a thicker, cardboard type material. I just googled “can you put wax paper in the oven”. My 2 sec google says no. I’ve never had a reason to, but I’m not a professional cook.
Oh you’ll find out soon enough vraska-theunseen
