
How to Make Beeswax Food Wraps
If you’re looking for a natural alternative to cling wrap and plastic sandwich bags, you should try beeswax food wraps! These pliable covers can fold into a multitude of shapes to cover or wrap around food.
Just rinse them with cold water and mild soap after each use and you can reuse them again and again! Just note, beeswax food wraps are not 100% air tight, so they are not recommended for things like raw meat.
You can make beeswax food wraps at home with just a few items! Here’s what you would need:
- Beeswax
- 100% cotton fabric
- Scissors or pinking shears
- Brush
- Parchment paper
- Knife (or cheese grater)
- Baking sheet
- Hanger (optional)
- Binder clips or clothespins (optional)
- Ruler (optional)
1. Cut your fabric
To start you will want to preheat your oven. It doesn’t take too much heat to melt the beeswax, so preheat it to 200 degrees – or the lowest setting. Make sure you cut the fabric to a size that will fit on your baking sheet. For a snack bag, use a 7″ by 14″ piece of fabric. A 14″ by 14″ square will cover most sandwiches. If you want to reduce fraying on your fabric you can cut it with pinking shears, otherwise scissors work fine.
2. Place fabric on baking sheet
Put parchment paper on your baking sheet and lay your fabric on top. If your fabric design is one-sided, place the pattern side facedown. Make sure you use a fresh parchment paper sheet for each new wrap.
3. Cut and distribute the beeswax
Carefully cut your beeswax bar into smaller shavings. You can also use a cheese grater for this – just note: you will have to use a lot of elbow grease to clean the wax off your grater (hot water + soap helps!). Evenly distribute the beeswax across the fabric, including the edges! There’s no real measuring here. Depending on how large your fabric is depends on how much beeswax you will need. Remember you can always add more wax if it seems too thin after melting.
4. Melt and spread beeswax
Place the baking sheet into the oven for about 4-8 minutes. When the pellets melt completely, take the tray out and use a paintbrush to spread the wax evenly over the entire fabric. Now is a good time if you realize you didn’t add enough wax to add more and gently remelt.
NOTE: The beeswax will stick to the brush, so make sure you use one you’re okay discarding or saving to make future beeswax wraps.
5. Let your wrap dry
Use tongs to remove the fabric from the baking sheet. It should feel cool to the touch after waving it for a few seconds in the air. You could hang the fabric up to dry or set it on the back of a chair with the beeswax side facing up.
6. Customize your food wrap
Once the beeswax has set and is not very tacky, you can add buttons or hand-sew them into small pouches.
Snack Bags: Use a 7″ x 14″ piece of fabric. Once dry, fold the fabric in half with the non-treated sides facing inward. Hand sew the two sides together, leaving the top open. Turn the bag inside out, and add a button as a closure or stitch Velcro to both sides.
Sandwich Wraps: Use a 14″ x 14″ piece of fabric. On the patterned side, sew a button in two adjacent corners. To close, put the side with the buttons face down. Fold the fabric into thirds around the sandwich. Flip and fold the ends of the fabric up so the buttons are on top. Wrap twine around them in a figure-eight pattern for a secure closure.
How to Care for Your Beeswax Wraps
Wash your beeswax food wraps by hand in cool water with a mild dish soap. Place them on a drying rack or clothesline to dry. Avoid any heat such as hot water, microwaves, or ovens that will cause the beeswax can melt, ruining your wraps.
Use these food wraps for vegetables, fruits, snacks, sandwiches, wraps, and more! Enjoy!
- Posted by Elizabeth Uthoff
- On October 21, 2024
- 0 Comments
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