As I was cleaning up my apothecary this evening, I remembered something I've taught in classes before... herbs are better stored in glass bottles, not plastic bags! It will help to retain their freshness, their scent... their very essential oils. So don't lose potency in your hard grown, picked, and dried plants... place them in glass, I said to myself. Hey! That's easy enough. For when you do what I do, you tend to collect jars that would be perfect for this or that, and have several on hand.
Well, things were going pretty well until I got to the really big jar and placed my rose petals inside. Great, there's no lid for this one. Well, that's alright! I also learned about the way people used to cover their jars. That's right - with waxed linen covers. So what did I do next? Well, I grabbed the linen scrap lying on the floor and some beeswax and ... yep, figured I'd create a guide to the process as I went along, so here we are!
- Beeswax
First, you'll need some beeswax. It doesn't matter what format you bought it in, but it will need to be small enough to melt down at this point. So grate it, shave it, chunk it up, or however you can best manage it. Maybe you're lucky and you bought it in pellets. - Next, the easiest way to do this is on a stove. So let's head to the kitchen.
- Now, you're going to need a skillet. Something about the size of cloth you're wanting to cover is going to be easier to work in.
- And for the best trick, some aluminum foil. This is to line your skillet!
- Just in case things get too hot, have a grease splatter screen handy.
- A utensil (fork is fine)
- Preferably, go ahead and have something ready that you want to put the cover on when we're done here.
Step 2, put your cloth in. Use your fork to help all of the cloth make contact with the melted wax, turning it over and moving it around until you feel like it's all set. Raise the cloth up out of the pan (holding it over the pan - it drips!) and excess wax will pool to one side if you tilt the pan, making it easier to finish any uncovered areas. If you find you didn't melt enough wax, it's ok! Just add more and continue until done.
The wax layer won't look white until you let the cloth cool, but when you feel ready just lift the cloth out of the wax and let it drip into the foil. As it cools you'll see the waxy look. When it stops dripping, and feels like you can touch it without hurting your hands, place it over the container you wish to cover.
The best part about cleanup is you can just leave the wax in the foil and store it away until next time after it has cooled, which takes hardly any time at all.
Now, while the cloth is still warm and flexible, just shape the cloth over and around the opening. As the wax dries, it will keep whatever's inside in, and other stuff out, pretty darned well!
No wonder this stuff is thought of as the waxed paper of the middle ages. I think it's even better, though, because of how you can just warm it back up (even just a little hand warmth is enough) and move the cloth somewhere else, and it will form to it just as easily. (Place over opening, cover with your hand, holding it around where you want it to go. It will listen, and stay.)
