Beeswax wraps are a great plastic-free alternative for storing food, however they can lose their stickiness relatively quickly. Here is a beeswax wrap recipe that gives an even stickier wrap to keep it lasting a lot longer (up to 12 months or more!) and requires less effort to keep it sticking over your bowl or food item.

A few years ago I made my first ever beeswax wrap with a couple of friends from my gym. We made an afternoon of it; whiling away the time drinking tea, chatting, and basically making a big fun mess of it. Somehow we managed to get beeswax everywhere.

These wraps were a great first attempt, but I found the stickiness faded quite quickly (after just 6 months), so I wanted to create something a little stronger, to last much longer (so I wasn’t refreshing the wraps so often).

An Eco-Friendly Alternative to Plastic Wrap

These beeswax wraps are:

• A great plastic-free wrap alternative
• Reusable
• Eco-friendly
• Sustainable
• Fully compostable at the end of their life cycle

Each wrap should last about 6-12 months before they lose all their stickiness. Once this happens, you can either revive them by re-waxing the fabric with more beeswax, or compost them.

Avoid heat, raw meats and seafood when using these wraps. To care for these wraps, simply wipe over your wraps with cool soapy water and sponge, rinse, then hang to dry.

Use the warmth of your hands to shape and mould your beeswax wrap over and around food and dishes. As we’re using pine resin along with beeswax, it will make a stickier coating on the wraps, meaning it won’t be as fiddly to mould around food and bowls, and will stick a lot longer, too.

Before we get started in learning how to make these extra sticky beeswax wraps – if you like what you’re seeing, subscribe to my email newsletter at the bottom of the page to keep up to date on the latest recipes, DIYs, gardening and health tips I share!!

Homemade Extra Sticky Beeswax Wraps

For a “bee-less” vegan alternative to beeswax wraps, simply swap out the beeswax for carnauba wax. If using this wax, make sure to add more oil (one tablespoon) and less wax (one tablespoon) to account for the brittle nature of carnauba. You’ll need about 1.5 tablespoons of resin if using carnauba. These beeswax-free wraps have a slightly oilier feel and leave just a touch more residue than beeswax wraps, but they stick wonderfully well.

Depending on the size and number of sheets you want to make, you’ll need different amounts of beeswax, resin, and jojoba oil. Mommypotamus shares a guide on this.

Ingredients:

• 100% organic cotton cloth, pre-washed and cut into squares of desired size
• 2-3 tbsp sustainably sourced pine resin, powdered
• 1/2 cup beeswax pellets or grated beeswax (or organic carnauba wax)
• 1 tbsp organic jojoba oil
• Large popsicle stick or other compostable stirrer
• Parchment paper
• Scissors (pinking shears will prevent fraying)
• Double boiler (or a saucepan and mason jar/measuring cup)
• Paintbrush (can only be used for this purpose)

To make:

1. Pre-wash your fabric and cut it into 2 squares with fabric scissors. You can cut more squares to make more wraps, but you’ll just need to increase the amount of each ingredient used accordingly.
2. In a double boiler (or mason jar/measuring cup placed into a saucepan of boiling water), add powdered pine resin, grated beeswax, and jojoba oil, and melt the ingredients until liquified. Mix throughout to ensure the ingredients are incorporated together.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
4. Lay the fabric squares on some parchment paper set over a baking tray. Once the wax mixture is ready, brush it over the fabric squares with a brush from the centre out, ensuring you coat all the edges and corners.
5. Place the tray in the oven for just 1-2 minutes, to help the wax absorb into the fabric.
6. Being careful not to burn yourself, gently pick up the hot fabric up off the baking paper and swing it gently in the air to cool it down and allow the wax to set – this only takes a few moments.
7. Once dry, you can trim the edges of the wraps with pinking shears if need be to remove any loose bits of fabric or clean up the sides.
8. Once set, the wax wraps are ready to use!
9. Wash the wraps after each use in cool soapy water and hang to dry.
10. Compost or re-wax the wraps after 6-12 months of use, or once they’ve lost all their stickiness.

Beeswax wraps aren’t as airtight as plastic wrap, so to help with this, you can reinforce the wrap’s “cling” by using a rubber band.

Homemade extra sticky beeswax wraps tutorial

As always, this is not personal medical advice and we recommend that you talk with your doctor before trying or using any new products. I am not a doctor. All opinions expressed are my own personal thoughts and feelings of the products mentioned. Check with your doctor or health practitioner if you are uncertain about trying out any of the products, recipes or tips mentioned in this post. 

Have you made wax wraps before? How did they go? Share in the comments below.

Lots of love,

🖤 Vanessa