5 Food Items Made from Bizarre Processes

Shellac

Shellac can be seen in the coated candies, chocolates and even waxed fresh fruits. Shellac are the purified form of lac, which is the secretion of the Laccifer lacca, an insect which is mostly seen on the trees in the forests of India, Thailand and Burma. The tunnel-tube like secretion undergoes the scraping process and heated over a fire, which liquefies the shellac. The thick, sticky shellac is then dried into a flat sheet and then broken into flakes. There are instances where users crush it into fine powder and mix it with ethyl alcohol before use. This purified bug poops are used as a nail polish, varnish or wood primer across the world. It is said that a 400-gm shellac flakes cost 700 in India.