Facts About Beeswax

If you've ever used a natural candle or handled a piece of honeycomb, chances are you're familiar with the basics of beeswax. However, the natural history of this fascinating and useful substance's creation, as well as the facts about its processing and numerous uses, is more interesting and unusual than many people might guess.

Origins

Beeswax is an organic product made by honey bees in order to create structures used for raising young as well as the storage of both honey and pollen. The wax is produced by female worker bees from glands on their abdomens. At first, this wax is clear and colorless, but it becomes opaque when masticated (chewed) by the worker bees during honeycomb building. The wax obtains its color through mixing with plant materials present in the hive, such as pollen and brown flower saps.

Properties

Pure beeswax has yellow-brown color, a powdery texture when molded and an opaque sheen (as opposed to the bright shine of paraffin wax). It is quite tough and hard and has a melting temperature of about 145 degrees Fahrenheit. The wax will burn if heated to 400 degrees F.

Production

When wax honeycombs are recovered by beekeepers, the honey must first be extracted from the combs. A special knife or machine is used to uncap the honeycomb cells on each side (each cell has honey sealed in), then the honey is removed, using a machine that spins the combs, forcing the honey out through centrifugal force. This leaves empty wax combs that are melted and refined to remove impurities before the wax is sold for use in other products.

It should be noted, however, that not all beekeepers harvest beeswax along with the honey. In some cases, the empty combs are returned to the hive to be reused because the bees will produce more honey if they don't have to to first rebuild the combs.

Uses

Beeswax has been put to many uses and continues to be an important product. It is highly prizes for its use in candles because of the clean and relatively smoke and drip-free flame a beeswax candle produces. Beeswax is also softened through mixture with various oils in order to be used in products like polishes for shoes and furniture or as a primary ingredient in hair waxes, pomades and some skin creams. It is also used to create a protective shell around aging artisan cheeses, such as Gouda.

Availability

Beeswax is available throughout the world, since it is produced by the domesticated European honey bee, a species that is kept commercially on every continent.