How did medieval people cover jars and bottles? I hear it's even better than saran wrap: waxed linen cloth.

How did they make it? --from a handy post from this forum:

A damp piece of cloth placed over a plate of food keeps flies off and what's underneath it nice all day.

Melt a small amount of beeswax in an old skillet. Dredge a piece of thin linen through the wax until soaked through, then lay out on kitchen foil or waxed paper to cool. The waxed linen makes a fantastic cover for just about anything from paint to food. I have a bunch of different sizes to cover pitchers, bowls of food, spices, condiments, etc.

Hold the cover over a heat source (careful, remember you're heating what amounts to a large wick) until softened, then use to cover anything you want. The wax sticks to the container and makes a nice seal. This is a great way to cover things like poached pears and blancmenger that are made early and eaten later in the day. Apparently, waxed covers were used in rural areas until the early years of the 1900s.