The abundance of different benefits that organic products can provide us is astonishing, and the same goes for beeswax. Consuming or using entirely organic products helps reduce public health risks by a ton. It massively reduces the number of harmful chemicals you’re exposed to and even decreases the effects it has on our planet. But, how do you make organic beeswax?
When you want to make organic beeswax, you don’t change the process. The main key focus of making organic beeswax is what the bees harvest when creating honeycomb in their hives. For beeswax to be classified as organic, beekeepers must abide by strict regulations. The primary regulation is that bees must be surrounded by certified organic produce within a six-mile radius.
As you can see, when you want to create organic beeswax, it’s the same process as ordinary beeswax. However, the only huge difference is that the surrounding environment has to be regulated by a professional. For organic beeswax to be certified, all plants and produce must be organic and only use natural fertilizers, and pesticides, etc., within a six-mile radius for the beeswax to be deemed organic.
So, if you’ve ever thought to yourself, “I’ve never seen organic beeswax,” it is because it’s scarce in most countries. Considering the amount of effort you encounter to harvest certified organic beeswax, it isn’t worth it in most cases.
How to make organic beeswax: a detailed guide
Needless to say, if you’re able to control the surrounding environment, you’ll be able to start creating organic beeswax. If you want to achieve this, you should become familiar with the below process.
What you need to make organic beeswax
First, before we get into this detailed how-to guide to making organic beeswax, there’s a few pieces of equipment you’ll need to make this process much more manageable. Here’s what you need:
- Entirely organic honeycomb
- Either a double boiler or a homemade version (you can do this by using a pot of water and also a wax pouring pitcher)
- Molds for your beeswax
- Mesh filter
- A reasonably sized cheesecloth
Once you’ve obtained the above, you can now successfully create organic beeswax. Before we get into the process, let’s take a look at some essential tips you’ll want to remember before making the organic beeswax.
Important tips to remember when making organic beeswax
These tips are valuable when it comes to making beeswax or organic beeswax. Failing to think about these tips could result in some catastrophic consequences. Here’s what you need to know:
- Don’t leave organic beeswax unsupervised – The reasoning behind this is because beeswax is highly flammable. Creating a fire in your kitchen or workplace is something you want to avoid at all costs. Therefore, please don’t leave it unsupervised and ensure you have adequate safety measures (like a fire extinguisher) to ensure your safety.
- Only use electric heating elements – If you can, don’t use an open flame. An open flame is much riskier and knowing that beeswax is highly flammable is why you should use electric heating elements.
- Buy new, or designate equipment to beeswax – When creating organic beeswax, the products will quickly destroy your pans and utensils. Therefore, you’ll want to be prepared to buy new equipment or designate old equipment solely to create beeswax.
- Never pour leftover wax or wax water down a drain – Beeswax is known to be an extremely long-lasting product. Because of this, don’t pour it down your drain. Over time it can become hard. If this occurs, it could result in your drains becoming blocked.
The above tips are essential to undergo, but once you’ve dialed this into your brain, it’s finally time to start creating organic beeswax.
How to make organic beeswax
Now you’ve got the appropriate equipment and have noted the above tips, you’re now ready to make organic beeswax. Be sure to read the below information first before undergoing the process. This will make it much easier to follow and understand, which ultimately reduces risks.
1.Wrap up the beeswax with a cheesecloth
You’ll first want to render your honeycomb and remove any contaminants that it may contain. There are a few methods by which you can successfully render your honeycomb. This includes the cheesecloth method (mentioned below) and a boiling method. Each works perfectly fine, but many people have seen much better results from using a cheesecloth.
To render your honeycomb with a cheesecloth, you’ll want to action the following:
- First, grab a large square of cheesecloth and place the organic honeycomb in the center.
- Now you’ve done this; you’ll want to wrap and enclose the honeycomb within the cheesecloth. You can do this by grabbing both opposing corners of the cheesecloth and tying them together.
- Ensure that the cheesecloth holds the honeycomb securely and that it cannot disperse or fall out of the material.
Once you’ve guaranteed yourself that the cheesecloth is holding the honeycomb securely, you can now start boiling some water.
2.Place the wrapped beeswax in simmering water
After you’ve got the water up to a boil, you’ll want to simmer it at a stable temperature. Now, you can place the wrapped cheesecloth full of honeycomb into the pot. Leave and monitor this until all the honeycomb is melted inside of the cheesecloth sacks. To gain as much organic beeswax as you can, be sure to squeeze the remaining honeycomb out of the cheesecloth sacks.
You’ll want to continuously undergo this step until you’ve worked through the entirety of your honeycombs.
3.Allow the beeswax to cool down
Once you’ve completed the above, you’ll want to allow some time for the beeswax to cool down. During the cooling down process, honey wax will start to rise to the water’s surface. To confirm this further, you’ll notice that the water turns a murky yellow color.
Once the water has completely cooled down, carefully remove the cheesecloths. If the beeswax within the cheesecloth sacks are too large to place in your double boiler, break them down.
Note – Don’t pour this water down the sink, as it will contain particles of beeswax. If you do this, it could clog up your sink and cause havoc to your piping system.
4.Melt the wax in a double boiler
From putting your honeycomb in simmering boiling water, you’ll only semi-clean it. But, now you’ve created wax, you’ll want to repeat a similar process with a double boiler.
To do this, you’ll want to remove the wax from the cheesecloth sacks. Once you’ve done this, place the wax in the double boiler and wait until it’s entirely melted. From doing this, you’ll receive much cleaner organic beeswax.
5.Filter the wax into a mold
Once the wax is melted, you’ll want to pour the wax through a mesh filter and onto your molds. Using some type of highly heat-resistant mesh is essential, as the wax will still be hot, and it’ll remove any clunky debris.
When choosing a mold, try to opt-in for something that has a material base of silicone. This makes the removal process much easier, as you can bend the silicone to remove the beeswax mold without damaging it.
6.Allow the beeswax to completely cool in molds
Lastly, now you’ve got your organic beeswax in your molds, you’ll want to wait until it’s cool. The cooling process will vary depending on the temperature of the room. To confirm it’s cool and ready for use, it’ll look a solid yellow color and almost feel like a bar of soap.
As you can see from the above, making organic beeswax follows a remarkably similar process to making ordinary beeswax. The only real difference is that the honeycomb harvested is certified organic, according to strict guidelines.
Can beeswax be organic?
When many people hear about organic and inorganic beeswax, they’re generally in shock. People believe that all beeswax is entirely organic unless additives have been added to the mixture.
However, people forget that not all beeswax is organic, and this depends on the environment that the beehive was situated in. Typically, beehives surrounded by produce and plants that use non-organic products don’t develop organic honeycomb. Because of this, when someone creates this honeycomb into beeswax, it cannot be deemed as organic beeswax.
Needless to say, this is frustrating for many people. But can beeswax even be organic? Yes, beeswax can be completely organic, but it isn’t easy. For beeswax to be certified as organic, the beekeeper will need to abide by strict regulations. The primary regulation they’ll need to follow is the environment that the hive is located around.
Bees can travel anywhere between one and six miles to harvest resources for their colony. Due to this occurrence, regulators specifically say that a beehive must be located within a six-mile radius of completely organic vegetation.
As you can imagine, in today’s age, this is incredibly difficult in most countries, and that’s why you don’t see a lot of organic honey being advertised or sold. But this doesn’t mean it’s impossible. If you live in a highly secluded area that isn’t surrounded by much, you may be able to develop organic beeswax successfully.
Is beeswax organic or inorganic?
The world of organic and inorganic beeswax can seem rather complex for most. Hearing that a highly thought organic product isn’t organic can undoubtedly turn some heads. To better understand the difference between both organic beeswax and inorganic, you should become familiar with the below:
Organic beeswax
As mentioned above, the main thing that tears the difference between organic and inorganic beeswax is the environment based around the hive. Usually, regulators suggest that for beeswax to be considered organic, the honeycomb produced needs to be in a completely organic area of a radius of six miles. However, here’s a few more regulations that make beeswax organic:
- No chemicals can be used on or in the beehives, meaning you cannot use special chemicals or paints to clean and protect the hives from such things as beetles.
- If you store your honey in sheds or containers, these also have to be organically produced. For example, no chemicals can be used on or within the shed in which the honeycomb or wax is stored.
Including the above, there are a few more regulations that a beekeeper may need to abide by to deem their beeswax organic. However, whatever organization that’s certifying the beekeeper may have different regulations to one another. But you can almost guarantee that the above regulation will need to be met for the beeswax to be organic.
Inorganic beeswax
As you can probably imagine, inorganic beeswax is the opposite of the above. Instead of this honey being regulated for its organic nature, it’s usually just situated on a bee farm surrounded by whatever environment.
Don’t get us wrong, inorganic beeswax isn’t something you should forget about. Most beekeepers use traditional and organic methods when developing a beehive. However, the only thing not classing them as organic is the environment based around the hive. As you can imagine, a six-mile radius around a hive is enormous, and it just isn’t achievable for most beekeepers wanting to produce honeycomb and beeswax.
Organic beeswax is somewhat hard to find at local supermarkets and is quite a niche product. If you want to reduce your impact on the world while still obtaining the sheer benefits of beeswax, you may want to purchase beeswax that doesn’t include added colors or substances.
Final words
After reading the above, you should now be familiar with how to make organic beeswax. As you can see, it follows a similar process but requires one crucial ingredient, which is an organic honeycomb. Without this, you cannot class your beeswax as organic.
We discussed the difference between organic and inorganic beeswax, which can seem somewhat problematic to comprehend. Because of this, people look at completely organic beeswax as a niche product because the requirements are very demanding.
So, now you understand how to make organic beeswax, will you be searching or becoming a certified organic beekeeper?
