How To Care For & Mend Beeswax Wraps
How To Care For & Mend Beeswax Wraps
You might be asking yourself: How long do beeswax wraps last for?
I get asked that question a lot and the simple answer is it depends on how you take care of them. On their own your beeswax wraps should last for 5-8 months, but with a little care and mending they can last for way longer! I put together a list on the best practices on how to use and how to revive once they have gotten some wear.
How To Use Beeswax Wraps
Our printed beeswax wraps are made from all-natural & organic ingredients. They are reusable, mendable and both the wraps and packaging are biodegradable. The secret to getting the beeswax wraps to stick the best is using the warmth of your hands! By manipulating the Beeswax Wraps with your hands, you help warm up and soften the wax and then it will stick better to itself.
How To Care for Beeswax Wraps
Another great maintenance tip is making sure you keep your wax wraps cool. This is a really big factory in the longevity of wax wraps. When you wash your beeswax wrap, wash them with cool water. Hot water actually pulls the wax and tree resin off of the wrap making them less effective. Cold water, a gentle sponge and some sop is great to clean these and then just set them out to dry.
Similarly do not microwave your beeswax wraps or put hot food on them. This heat is again not good for the wax wraps as it makes them less effective, If you have a hot dish let it cool down. Also do not store wax wraps near heat, keep them stored at room temperature or below.
How To Revive Beeswax Wraps
Beeswax Wraps are great, but because they are made from all-natural & organic ingredients after multiple uses they start to show a little wear and tear, but don’t worry we have some easy ways to fix this! We want our wax wraps to stay as strong as possible so they keep your food fresh and secure, to get them to their original state all you have to do is follow one of these methods. We recommend doing this every few months.
The Oven Method
- Place your beeswax food wrap on a baking sheet and stick it in the oven at the lowest temperature of 150° F.
- After a minute check to see if it has begun to melt.
- Once the wax is melted remove the tray from the oven and pick the wrap up by the corners.
- Keep holding the wrap by the corners until it cools enough for the wax to harden again.
- Place your newly revived beeswax food wrap on a flat surface and you're done!
Hair Dryer Method
- Clean your wax wraps to make sure there is no food leftover.
- Warm it up, by laying your wrap out on a cookie sheet with parchment paper underneath and use a hair dryer to blow on the surface of the wrap.
- Finally, let it cool in on the sheet before folding and reusing.
Iron Method
- Clean your wax wraps to make sure there is no food leftover.
- On an ironing board, sandwich your beeswax wrap between 2 pieces of Parchment paper
- Turn your iron on to a cotton setting and just iron on top of the parchment paper for 30 second, you should see the wax remely and start to spread out. This is great to have the ingredients get redistributed.
- After that peel back the parchment paper and let wax wraps dry on a pice of parchment paper
How To Mend Your Beeswax Wraps
After a while, Beeswax Wraps will have lost a lot of the ingredients that make them work, but it is super easy to re-coat it with three simple ingredients: beeswax, tree resin, and jojoba oil! Using the Iron method.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- An iron
- Parchment paper
- Tablespoon of pine resin
- A Handful of beeswax wrap pellets
- A Few drop of Jojoba Oil
Iron Method Steps:
- Place your three ingredients of beeswax, tree resin, and jojoba oil on your wrap.
- Then place your wax wrap between two pieces of parchment paper.
- Iron across the parchment paper to smooth out the ingredients.
- Peel the paper away from the wrap.
- Hang the wrap to dry.
What To Do With Beeswax Wraps At The End Of Their Life Cycle
After you have exhausted all of your options and it is time to say goodbye to your wax wraps at the end of their life cycle here are some alternatives to throwing them in the trash! We made these with all natural and biodegradable ingredients so they can go back into the earth.
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Compost- cut up into strips and add to your at home compost bin.
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Use as fire kindly, just cut them up into strips and use as kindling.
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Reuse as a cleaning rag around your kitchen.