Make your own eco-friendly beeswax food wraps

Why bother with beeswax wraps?

A roll of cling film lasts a few weeks and then sits in landfill for centuries. Beeswax wraps do the same job — covering a bowl of leftovers, wrapping a sandwich for the walk to work, keeping a cut avocado from going brown — but you can use them again and again for about a year, then compost them at the end of their life. They're a pleasure to handle, too: slightly stiff when cold, softening and clinging as your hands warm them.

Making your own takes an afternoon and a short list of ingredients, and it works out considerably cheaper than buying a set. Better still, you choose the exact sizes, prints and quantities that suit your kitchen — a couple of big ones for salad bowls, a handful of small ones for odds and ends.

What you'll need

For the wax mixture (enough for roughly eight to ten wraps):

• 100g beeswax — pastilles, pellets, or a block you grate yourself
• 20g pine resin, also sold as gum rosin, crushed or powdered
• 20ml jojoba oil — it keeps the wraps supple and, unlike some oils, won't turn rancid

Kit: a clean heatproof tin or bowl that will sit over a saucepan, a pastry brush you'll keep for waxing, baking parchment, a baking tray, and a cooling rack or a line with pegs. Pine resin is gloriously sticky and very hard to shift, so keep the tin, bowl and brush for wraps only and never use them for food afterwards.

You'll also need cotton fabric, plus pinking shears or a sewing machine if you want neat edges.

Choosing and cutting your fabric

Thin, tightly woven cotton is what you're after: old bed sheets, pillowcases, worn shirts and quilting offcuts are all ideal. Thick towelling and stretchy jersey coat unevenly, and anything with synthetic fibre in it simply won't absorb the wax. If you're buying new fabric, wash and dry it first — new cloth often carries a dressing that repels wax.

Cut your squares with pinking shears, which give a zigzag edge that resists fraying without any sewing. If you'd rather hem them, a simple zigzag stitch around the border works just as well. As a guide:

• 20 × 20cm — small bowls, half a lemon, a cut avocado
• 30 × 30cm — sandwiches, plates, medium bowls
• 40 × 40cm — large salad bowls, a loaf of bread, a bunch of herbs

Allow roughly 25g of wax mixture per 30cm square. A little more on a cold day, a little less in a warm kitchen.

Making the wax mixture

Melt the beeswax, pine resin and jojoba oil together in a bain-marie — your tin set over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Never melt wax over direct heat, as it can scorch, smoke and eventually catch fire. Stir now and then until everything is liquid and no gritty specks of resin remain; it should look like thin, golden honey.

Keep the tin sitting in the warm water as you work so the mixture stays pourable, returning it to the heat for a minute if it starts to firm up. Open a window while you work and keep the hot mixture away from food, worktops you cook on and bare skin — it clings and it burns.

Coating the cotton squares

Lay a sheet of baking parchment on your baking tray and place one cotton square on top. Brush or pour a thin, even layer of the warm mixture over the fabric, working from the centre outwards and paying extra attention to the edges, which is where wraps usually fail first.

For a beautifully even finish, lay a second sheet of parchment over the top and press with a warm iron on a low setting, or slide the whole tray into an oven preheated to 120°C (100°C fan) for five to eight minutes, until the fabric looks glossy and uniformly soaked. Lift a corner with tongs to check — if any patch still looks matte and dry, brush on a little more mixture and give it another couple of minutes.

Peel the wrap off the parchment while it's still warm and hang it over a rack or line to set for a minute or two. Once cool, it should feel dry, slightly tacky and flexible. Trim any ragged edges with pinking shears, then store your wraps rolled or folded in a drawer.

If your first attempt comes out too stiff and crackly, re-melt it with a splash more jojoba oil. If it won't cling, it needs a pinch more resin. If it feels greasy, it has too much wax — re-melt and wipe off the excess.

Using and refreshing your wraps

Use the warmth of your hands to mould a wrap over a bowl or around a sandwich; the wax holds its shape as it cools. Keep them away from raw meat and fish, and don't use them on hot food or in the microwave, oven or dishwasher.

To clean, wipe with a cloth, then wash in cool water with a little mild washing-up liquid, rinse well and hang to dry. Hot water strips the wax, so keep it tepid. After a year or so your wraps will look tired and lose their cling — refresh them by re-melting on a lined tray in the oven for a few minutes, or simply make a fresh batch. When they finally give up, cut them into strips and add them to the compost: cotton and beeswax both break down, which is more than can be said for the cling film they replaced.