Are Wax Wraps any Good?
This year my extended family gifted me with several zero waste products I’ve never had before. One of these gifts included bees wax wraps, which are squares of cloth coated in bees wax, and used as a plastic free replacement for cling wrap.
This is one of those things that I have wanted, but haven’t felt pressed to buy. I usually use Tupperware to store leftovers, and a damp rag for things like covering bread dough.
Nevertheless, since I received this wonderful gift from my sister, I immediately started putting it to use for various things in the kitchen.
One place the wax wraps really excel at is in preserving cookie dough for later use. Many cookie dough recipes require being chilled in order to bake up properly. Most websites recommend securing it in plastic wrap to preserve moisture.
The bees wax did a really great job in place of plastic wrap, sealed moisture out better than Tupperware, and wiped off very nicely.
Okay for leftover toppers
I don’t feel the wax wraps secured to the top of bowls for storing leftovers like plastic wrap does. Sealing beeswax wraps onto the top is possible, but really finicky and hard to achieve. I probably won’t use it in this way, preferring to use my reusable Tupperware for these things.
Great for bread covers
Again, in the same way it’s great for wrapping cookie dough, it did really well at covering bread. The variety pack gifted to me included a very large one that fits decently over my bread bowl, and it seals well enough to keep the bread decently moisturized.
Verdict: Decent enough
In some ways, the beeswax wraps did better than plastic wrap ever could. Plastic wrap has its own annoyances like sticking to itself and tearing in weird ways, which beeswax wraps don’t do. Where they don’t have these annoyances, they don’t seal perfectly in all cases which can be annoying too.
There’s also the environmental considerations. Beeswax wraps do replace plastic wrap and tin foil reasonably well for storage, but are they sustainable?
Bees have a limited amount of wax available. If everyone made the transition to beeswax wraps, would it truly be sustainable? Is there enough beeswax in the world for everyone to use this method?
Yes and no. Although vegan’s may not wish to use this product since it does come from animals, each beeswax wrap lasts a very long time, and can be ‘revived’ by popping it in the oven at 150F on a tray for 1-2 minutes (just long enough to remelt the wax) and then holding it up by its corners until it dries.
Carefully maintained, beeswax wraps can be reused many, many times. Are there enough colonies in the world to handle the needs of everyone? We’re skeptical on that one.