How to make your own bees wax food wrap

Ditch the plastic and ban cling film!  Well, that sounds like I've gone all militant but I am trying in my own small way to show more respect for our wonderful earth by reducing the amount of plastic packaging coming into and leaving my house.  

I have stopped buying cling film.  Yes, I know that this small action will not save the planet, but it feels good not to be using the yucky stuff and it was an easy place to start.  

'So, what are you going to wrap your sandwiches in then, Shazza?!' I hear you all ask. 

'What are you going to put over your food bowls to stop the flies doing disgusting things to your pasta salad?!'

About a year ago, I bought some bees wax food wrap from my local markers market.  I've been using the small amount I purchased for a while, but with no real commitment to using it instead of cling film.  I figured that it would be easy peasy to make some myself, and guess what? It bloody is!

Here's what you need

You need some light to medium weight cotton fabric; nothing fancy or posh, just whatever you have.  As I have a mahoosive fabric stash, I was spoilt for choice.  

You will need some food grade bees wax pellets, which I found very easily and pretty cheaply.

Here's how do it

I cut my fabric to the size of my largest baking tray, so that it could lay flat in a single layer.  Line your baking tray with some foil to protect it or you will end up with waxy chicken dippers (I mean falafels).  Then I sprinkled on the bees wax pellets.  You really don't need more than I have used in the picture, as it all spreads out as it melts.

I put my oven tray in the baking oven of my Aga for 5 minutes, which was plenty of time for the wax to melt and soak into the fabric.

You must take the newly coated beeswax fabric off the baking tray straight away, when it comes out of the oven, so it doesn't get stuck to the foil.  And use tongs!

I placed the waxed fabric over my clothes airer for 5 minutes to set and become cool enough to handle.

And that's it, job done.

I cut several circles of fabric to make bowl covers, and the rectangles are good for sarnies. 

To use the bees wax wrap, you simply use the warmth from your hands to mould the wrap around whatever you want to cover and it will keep it's shape.

To clean your friendly food wrap, you just give it a wipe with a damp cloth or you can give it a gentle wash with a little mild soapy water.  I understand from my research on t'internet, that your wrap will last for about a year of regular use before you should compost it and make some new wrap.
Words of wisdom from the web:
Don't use your wraps in the microwave
Don't use with hot food
Don't eat them

Confession...

So, I'll 'fess up that I purchased my bees wax pellets from Amazon.   I realise that this is bonkers, because a man in a white van had to drive half way across the country to bring me my beeswax in a shed load of packaging!!  Yep, I didn't think that one through...I think the ideal would be to get some bees wax from a local provider; you can easily use a block of bees wax by grating the wax onto your fabric.

I like to think that David Attenborough would be pleased to hear of my small efforts to save our oceans from plastic. Sir David, if you are reading this, you are most welcome to come round and peruse my Buddha wraps, as I like to call them now.

x

The Little Library Cookbook: A Rave Review

 The Little Library Cookbook by Kate Young is the perfect gift for all book loving foodies.  I have a shed load of cookery books and love to have a big pile of them on my bed to flick through in the mornings with a brew.  But the Little Library Cookbook is so much more than a collection of recipes. It's a magical potion of food memories from fiction together with the author's musings and reminiscences on the importance of food, family and books in her life.  

  

I love the descriptions of food preparation and meals in literature; it's such a sensual thing that seems to really connect us with the characters in the story.  The earliest example for me was probably Enid Blyton's Famous Five, where food always seemed a focal point of their adventures.  I was greedily envious of the marvellous picnics the children had and of the way they would just turn up at a strange farm and ask for food, without fear of being abducted or embarrassment at begging!  Instead of being told to bugger off, they would be invited in for a fantastic spread of home made pies, milk fresh from the udder and lashings of ginger beer!  

Kate includes recipes from many of my favourite books and authors.  Each of the one hundred recipes comes with a quote from the book and a little story to accompany it. I love the descriptions in cookery books; when the author includes stories of their journeys through exotic towns in far flung parts of the world or little glimpses of their childhood memories of food and family recipes.  Kate does this beautifully with her food writing. Some of the recipes from the book include... 


Steak and Onions, the End of the Affair
Treacle Tart and Rosemary Ice cream, The Philosophers Stone
Chocolatl, Northern Lights
Seed Cake, The Hobbit
Pear and Lemon Birthday Cake, Comet in Moominland
A Thousand Pork and Ginger Dumpling, The Kitchen God's Wife
Turkish Delight, The Lion, the Witch, The Wardrobe
Creamed Haddock on Toast, Agatha Christie, Sleeping Murder

source


If you have ever read the Hobbit you will know how important second breakfasts are to Bilbo and his friends.  And who can forget the cosy beaver house where Mrs Beaver provides comforting food for the children in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe?  Or the addictive Turkish Delight that the White Witch feeds to Edmund?
Why not buy The Little Library Cookbook as an Easter treat for yourself?  Sounds like a plan to me.

Happy reading xxx