Produce to Product, The journey of beeswax.
Have you ever paused for a moment and asked yourself: Where does bees wax come from exactly? How does it come to be? And why?
In order to get a deeper appreciation for something, be it an item, concept, person, phenomenon, whatever... You must first fully understand it.
So, let's start with the real basics. Bees wax, as its name suggests, is made by bees. Simple right? But not every bee is responsible for producing the colonies' wax supplies. Just as in our human societies, there exist differing professions (builders, nurses, etc.), bees too have a similar structure. Each has its role. Bee's wax is produced by bees generally aged around 12 days old, give or take a few days (Although older bees can too, under certain circumstances). Which begs the next question: How do they make wax? Bees possess a wax producing gland under their abdomen. The wax is secreted in liquid form and solidifies into solid flakes as it makes contact with the outside air.
Already, even with this basic insight into bee's wax, we can appreciate the testament to how amazing Gods' creations really is.
But it gets even more awesome... Back to the bees!
The abovementioned young honeybee produces an astonishingly tiny quantity of only six wax flakes in the span of twenty-four hours. One full day! On top of that, a bee must consume about 2,5 to 3,5 kilograms (6 to 8 pounds) of honey in order to produce 500 grams of wax (1 pound). Bearing in mind that a single bee typically weighs about 0.1 grams... Has that sunk in yet?
Fortunately for the young bee, it is not alone. With a strong and healthy sisterhood of thousands of bees, they are able to draw out usable wax comb within 1 to 3 days...
Okay, so now that we know where bees wax itself comes from, we can pose our next question: What exactly do bees use it for?
Bees need structure. Bee equivalents of villages, cities, buildings and skyscrapers. Without structure, the colony will die. Sounds familiar. This structure is expertly crafted by the worker bees into geometrically perfectly joined hexagonal cups. Collectively known as comb. And what better material to use, than your very own, sustainably sourced, eco-friendly wax secretions. Which also happen to be one hundred percent waterproof. Very quickly, the slightly upward angled hexagonal cones, are put to use. Many are dedicated to the queen, who once mated, lays thousands of eggs in order to grow and maintain her family. Some are packed to the brim with pollen, others are filled with nectar, later to be turned into honey. Wax is literally the foundation of their lives...
As the journey of wax continues, our story becomes a little bit bigger, and stickier...
You see bees are not the only creatures that enjoy honey. Amongst many wild animals such as; honey badgers, bears, raccoons and birds, humans (the wildest perhaps) also make use of honey as a tasty, sweet source.
Beekeepers should always work with their bee colonies in mind and should aim to never overwork the colonies under their stewardship. When honey is harvested, frames of honey filled comb are removed from the hives and replaced with new frames, preferably with already drawn-out wax comb, so that the bees can get straight back to creating honey rather than having to rebuild new comb. Which as we now know, is a very energy demanding process.
The removed honeycomb is capped with wax. The bees do this in order to protect their honey from moisture. A long-term food storage method of a sorts, similar to how we seal jars of food. The wax capping's must be removed before the honey can freely flow from its waxy storage containers. This leads us to our next question; What happens to the wax capping's?
Wax comes in many different forms and characteristics, dependant on how it was used by the bees. Fresh, young wax tends to be very lightly coloured, white even. While aged wax tends to be a darker amber/orange colour as it mixes with pollen residues over time. Some beeswax can even be dark brown to black after many seasons of housing and rearing bee larvae.
Fresh, young beeswax is most commonly used by beekeepers and artisanal craftsmen, as it is a regular byproduct of honey harvesting, the capping's specifically. It is also the cleanest and easiest to render into food safe wax.
All the way from the bee's abdomen to beautifully drawn-out comb to the hands of a beekeeper, and yet this hardy, amazing substance still has a purpose. Its journey is not yet over...
The artisan fires up his/her stove and places a large pot onto the heat, another smaller pot inside the larger one. Both filled with clean, pure water. As the heat rises and the water steams, a filtration bag is submerged into the smaller pot. And inside the bag... is the beeswax... No longer an architectural masterpiece, no longer a vital, life sustaining structure. Instead, a warm and sweet-smelling liquid. As the wax reaches its melting point it floats up to the surface, leaving behind any impurities and signs of its old life, in the filtration bag. Overnight it slowly cools, becoming one. By dawn, a large, almost pure disc of wax rests on the water. But it's not over...
The old water is thrown out, and clean water is filled into the double boiler once again. The wax is broken up and this time placed into an even denser filtration bag. Once again into the heat. To be tested and purified. The wax squeezes its way through the bags fine mesh, leaving absolutely every trace of its former life behind. Once at the top it begins to slowly cool.
On the third day at dawn, with the scent of coffee strongly hanging in the air, the pot lid is lifted. Right there, pure as it was on its very first day of creation, lies the beautifully rendered, seamless disc of wax. A grateful artisan. Without bees, such a thing would not exist.
Where to next? The page flips to the next chapter.
Come wintertime, the air is dry as all the moisture is sucked from it. Your lips begin to crack and worsen as the season harshens. You reach into your pocket and pull out your lip balm. The ingredient list is too long and impossible to read, riddled with words that shouldn't exist. You look away... You plead ignorant as you smear chemicals all over your lips. But it's refreshing and relieving, the pain subsides. On your way home from work, you walk by an artisanal shop. In the window you notice a warm and pleasing to the eye brown, cardboard box. Beautifully decorated, artisanal as expected. Curiosity overwhelms you and so you enter the store and are overcome with natural smells. Trying to act carefree and unindulgent, you wander slowly over to the box and gently open it up...
You had previously read a short story about the journey of beeswax, where it came from and where it goes, the mind-blowing facts, still hard to comprehend. The time it takes to get from A to B on its path. And now suddenly, you come face to face with the wax at the end of its journey. Simple, yet pure, staring up at you, just what you needed. Beeswax lip balm nestled warmly next to a beeswax massage candle. No complicated words littered in small font. Three ingredients that you actually know; beeswax, coconut oil and triple rendered beef tallow.
All thanks to those little buzzing creatures...
Bee blessed.
The end.
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