Reconditioning your Apiwraps Beeswax Wraps!
Apiwraps beeswax wraps can be reconditioned every few months to keep the wax supple and strong. They can often go much longer without needing too much attention, but winter time does tend to effect the wax a lot.
Your Apiwraps are needing a treatment when the creases start to get crumbly and the wax looks like it’s starting to come off the fabric.
In the summer time warmth keeps the wax quite pliable and soft but in the winter time when colder temperatures beeswax can become brittle the coconut oil that we use in our Apiwraps minimizes the effect of this but sometimes the beeswax will be a little more brittle than usual this is normally because of the type of flowers at the bees have been visiting!
We recommend two ways of reconditioning, a sun bath or hair dryer treatment.
Sun Bath
A mild afternoon around 20 to 28°C is the ideal for this – place your Apiwrap on a baking tray and put it in a sheltered and sunny place for around an hour. Make sure it’s not too hot – you want to see your Apiwrap going a little shiny – not completely melting. If it melts you will loose a lot of wax and end up with an uneven finish. If you think it’s a little warm that day – keep a close eye!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjB8Ps_AO16/?taken-by=apiwraps
A sun bath can also be done on the clothes line – this is nice as a little freshen up but doesn’t usually result in a full reconditioning treatment because the air movement stops the wax from getting very warm.
A sun bath is also an antibacterial treatment and will clean up any mould spores that might be lurking after keeping your veggies a little too long in the fridge!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmXI1-cA8oZ/?taken-by=apiwraps
The Hair Dryer Method
In the winter time when the heat of the sun is not so strong you can use a hair dryer and heat the beeswax wraps in sections. Be careful not to completely melt any point! You want to see the wax finish get shiny not drippy just softening the wax till it’s starting to shine a little. The Apiwrap will be quite floppy when it’s softened, so be careful and have something to support it underneath – in the video I have a chopping board underneath.
Otherways…
We’ve been asked about using an iron or oven to recondition. We don’t recommend these methods.
Ironing between two sheets of baking parchment we would avoid as baking paper is made with paraffin (petrochemical) wax and adding petrochemicals to your beeswax would not be ideal. A little beeswax would also be lost on to the paper which would wear out your Apiwraps faster. We put as much beeswax as we can in the Apiwraps to have them last as long as possible!
The oven would seem super fast and efficient – but since it would very quickly melt your entire Apiwrap this would result in losing a significant amount of wax from your Apiwrap (as well as making a big clean up job of your baking tray!)