My mother and I, both frequent cooks, became fed-up with the wasteful, self-entangling, difficult-to-use plastic cling-wrap. Looking for a sustainable solution, we came across beeswax food wraps at our local grocery store. Although a great solution to our battle with plastic cling wrap, the beeswax wraps were ridiculously expensive. It took only a few google searches before we discovered how simple they would be to make ourselves. Therefore, my mother and I chose to get crafty.
The wraps consist of cotton fabric that is coated in a mixture of beeswax, jojoba oil and pine resin. The wax protects the fabric and creates an easy-to-clean surface. The pine resin makes them sticky, allowing them to adhere to containers and to food. The oil, while small in quantity, is essential to make the wraps malleable and easy to fold. While these materials can all simply be ordered off of Amazon, if you find yourself extra keen to help the environment, you will likely be able to find them all at your local health food store. As for the fabric, while it is important that it is 100% cotton, you may use anything from a piece of an old t-shirt to an old set of sheets (anything you are comfortable wrapping your food in). My mother and I, using leftover quilting fabric, carefully cut the material to various sizes that suited our kitchen’s needs: large ones to cover our biggest bowls, a few small ones to wrap up leftovers, and many in between.
Once the materials are collected and you are ready for things to get a little messy, begin by measuring out your ingredients. You will need to combine two- and one-half teaspoons of pine resin, one eighth of a cup of beeswax pellets, and one tablespoon of jojoba oil into a sturdy double boiler. Heat the mixture on medium until it is smooth, and no chunks of beeswax remain. Using a thick paintbrush to evenly paint the heated mixture onto both sides of your piece of fabric. Quickly place the fabric onto a parchment line baking sheet and stick in your oven once preheated to 225 degrees Fahrenheit. After two minutes, transfer your wrap onto a cooling rack. Once the wrap is no longer glistening and is cool to the touch, the wrap should be ready for use.
Now that you have successfully crafted a beeswax food wrap, you can feel good while keeping your food fresh. Similar to plastic cling-wrap, use your beeswax wraps to cover containers and swaddle your food in the fridge or on the go.
Materials:
· Double Boiler
· Parchment Paper
· Thick Paintbrush
· Scissors
· Baking sheet
· 2.5 tsp. pine resin
· 1/8 cup beeswax pellets
· 1 tbsp jojoba oil
· Cooling rack
· Cotton fabric
1. Cut the cotton fabric into squares/circles to fit your kitchen’s bowls/plates/Tupperware.
2. Preheat oven to 225 degrees F
3. On medium heat, combine the pine resin, beeswax pellets and the jojoba oil into a double boiler.
4. While your mixture heats up, cut a large piece of parchment paper to cover your entire baking sheet.
5. Once your mixture has melted, place a piece of fabric on the parchment. Using your paintbrush, paint a thin layer of the mixture onto the fabric. Immediately place the baking sheet in the oven for two minutes.
6. Transfer fabric onto a cooling rack until no longer hot and glistening.
7. Ready for use! Use as a substitute to plastic-cling wrap. Wrap up any food leftovers or use to cover dishes.
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