Book Review: The Beeswax Workshop

I was recently had the good fortune of getting my hands on a review copy of a really wonderful book,

The Beeswax Workshop: How to Make Your Own Natural candles, Cosmetics, Cleaners, Soaps, Healing Balms and More by Chris Dalziel. 

Some of you may be familiar with Chris from her Joybilee Farm website and blog, where she focuses on herbs and natural remedies, gardening, food preservation, and handcrafting. Because of my love for bees and all things natural, The Beeswax Workshop is of special interest to me. And I have to say that it has the most comprehensive selection of beeswax recipes I've seen yet. Most books about beeswax feature candle making or cosmetics. This book has all that and so much more: things like beeswax soap, insect repellent, cast iron seasoning, granite countertop polish, cheese wax, sandwich wraps, tool handle preservative, bowstring wax, bullet lube, violin rosin, and beeswax crayons.

Chapter 1, "Miraculous Beeswax," gives the reader an appreciation for how precious beeswax is. It explains how bees make it and why it is endangered. Also discussed are beeswax basics, working with beeswax (including cleaning it up!), plus the recipes and equipment. I also like the the two charts included: "Melting Points of Waxes and Resins," and the conversion table for working with the recipes.

Next come eight chapters full of beeswax recipes: candlemaking, personal care, soap and hair care, in the Apothecary, home comforts, in the garden, for sport and leisure, and the arts.

Chapter 10 is an ingredient guide, discussing the all the other components in the various recipes: various waxes, vegetable butters, carrier oils, essential oils, herbs. resins, gums, and solvents. "Resources" helps you source the various materials, and gives you suggestions for further reading and research. Volume, weight, and temperature conversion charts make this a ready resource no matter where you live in the world.

I received a review copy, but no, I'm not in any other way connected to the book or it's sale. I can honestly say that it's a wonderful addition to my homestead library. It's available here.

Book Review: The Beeswax Workshop © Feb. 2017 

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

A Taste of Honey

 “There's no great loss without some small gain.” If you've read Laura Ingalls Wilder's, Little House on the Prairie series, then you're likely familiar with that phrase. The loss of Honeysuckle Hive was a great loss, but we did gain a small amount of honey.

There weren't many filled combs, but enough to harvest for a sample.

Because I want some of the wax as well as the honey, I planned to use the crush and strain method. Last year I bought a bucket strainer system from BeeThinking, because I can use it to strain and store honey. I like it because it includes a honey gate for quick filling of honey containers. It holds 3.5 gallons, however, which I was nowhere close to having. I did use the two straining bags supplied with it, but rigged up my own straining system.

My strainer fits perfectly inside the pie ring which fits perfectly over
the pot. Two of these were just right for the amount of comb I had.

The mesh straining bag folded over the pot and held half my comb.  I
used a wooden potato masher to crush the comb & let the honey flow.

Gravity and warmth are what drains the honey. Honey becomes more viscous as temperatures drop, so a warm kitchen means better drainage into the pot.

How long? A lot of folks seem to leave it only overnight. On one bee forum I read of someone who let it drain for a week. I stirred the crushed comb to check on the honey, and let it sit five days, until most of the honey had drained from the bottom of the mesh bag.

How much?

My yield was six pints. Isn't it pretty?

The comb is then washed, dried, and stored (usually in the freezer) until enough is collected to render. One tip I got over at HoneyBeeSuite was to strain and save that first comb wash water and use it in cooking. I did just that.

Of course, no harvest is complete without some feasting.

Homegrown honey on homemade biscuits.

Because I only strained it, it still contains the pollen and would be considered raw honey. For those interested in some honey processing terms, here they are:

Strained honey - has been poured through a mesh strainer to remove wax and debris
Filtered honey - has been run through a fine filter to remove pollen
Raw honey - not heat treated, not filtered
Pasteurized honey - heat treated to kill yeasts and bacteria (even though honey has known antibacterial effects)

Here's hoping the new hives do better.

A Taste of Honey © March 2016 by Leigh
at http://www.5acresandadream.com/

Seasonal Cheese Making (and Beeswax)

Cheese making has become a seasonal chore for me. By trial and error I've learned that I cannot make all cheeses during all times of year, even if I have the milk. This has been part of learning to live with my environment. In the heat of summer, I focus on making soft cheeses and mozzarella. I save the making of hard cheeses for when the temperatures become more autumnish, like now.

One of this year's first cheeses, all dressed up in red cheese wax.

If you look through detailed instructions for making cheese, you will note how specific the temperatures are. The following are examples from Ricki Carroll's Home Cheese Making.

"It's important to drain the cheeses in a place where the temperature stays close to 72°F."

"Air-dry the cheese at 50°F for 3 weeks. "

"Most cheeses prefer an aging temperature between 46 and 60°F and a relative humidity of 75 to 95 percent."

Fresh out of the cheese press.

Since Dan and I don't use air conditioning, my biggest cheese making challenges are those steps which require specific air temperatures. When the heat and humidity in the kitchen and pantry are high, my newly pressed cheeses don't dry; they remain moist and mold easily. I can battle the mold with vinegar and salt, but they never seem to develop a nice rind. If they dry enough to wax them, the resulting cheeses have an unpleasant sharpness and a lot of mold to cut off. According to Ricki Carroll, this is what happens if when temperatures are too high. Mold and acidity increase to the point where the cheese is not a good one. My solution has been to make such cheeses in the autumn, when temperatures are milder.

And the beeswax? When I used up the last of my cheese wax, I decided I was going to try beeswax instead. Cheese wax is expensive, and even though it can be saved and reused, it still must be purchased. When we got bees, I chose the Warré beehive because it meant I could harvest beeswax as well as honey. I use beeswax in my herbal salves and want to make candles for emergency lighting someday.

Since I'm not harvesting my own beeswax yet, I bought some
in "cones" which I think are made in styrofoam cups as molds. 

I waxed two cheeses with straight beeswax, and then discovered what others already know; that the wax is brittle and cracks easily. Suggestions to make it more pliable include adding a bit of vegetable shortening, lard, or coconut oil. I removed the beeswax from the cracked wax cheese, and then added a lump of coconut oil to my beeswax pan. I rewaxed the cheese with better results.

I wax my cheeses by dipping them. I've tried brushing the wax on, but sheesh, what a mess I make (it's the same with paint and a paintbrush). It still has a honey smell, so I'll be curious as to how that effects the flavor of the cheese after it ages.

Beeswaxed goat cheese.

One idea I read about is to use crayons (which are made of food-grade wax and colorings) to color the wax. That would be handy for identifying different types of cheeses. This particular cheese is my standby - #15. It doesn't use a purchased cheese culture and you can find the recipe here.

For a number of good recipes using beeswax (including cheese wax), check out the "Beeswax Recipes" from John & Debra Bruihler. Also Rona’s “Beeswaxing” Method and this thread from the Permies.com forum. An excellent article about proper waxing and storing (do hard cheeses really need refrigeration?) is "Settling the Cheese Wax Controversy" by Preparedness Pro.

Seasonal Cheese Making (and Beeswax) © October 2015

by Leigh at http://www.5acresandadream.com/