How Is Beeswax Made?
Beeswax is a natural product made by bees and used by humans for many purposes. Beeswax finds its way into candles, lubricants, cosmetics, arts and crafts, furniture polish and cheesemaking. While there are now artificial equivalents for beeswax, for thousands of years, beeswax was the only option.
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What the Bees Do
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All worker honeybees, Apis mellifera, exude wax through several glands on their abdomen. Unlike honey, pollen or propolis (bee glue), wax is made naturally by the bee's body and does not have to be gathered from other ingredients. Once the wax is secreted, the bee gathers it up and masticates, or chews, it until the wax is the texture and consistency the bee needs.
The Nature of Beeswax
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For every 7 to 10 lbs. of honey a hive produces, only about 1 lb. of wax is made. Before the invention of Langstroth hive, which allowed beekeepers to remove parts of the hive without damaging the hive itself, harvesting beeswax or honey destroyed the hive. Under those circumstances, both honey and beeswax were very valuable.
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How the Bees Use Their Wax
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When the beeswax is first secreted by a worker bee, it appears as transparent scales smaller than a match head. After the bee masticates it, the wax becomes opaque and takes on color. The wax is then used to build combs to store honey, pollen or brood. When an individual cell of the comb is filled, a worker bee will cover the top of the cell with fresh wax, sealing in the contents. The color ranges from nearly white to dark brown depending on what impurities are present. The lightest wax is the cell caps. The darkest tends to be from the brood cells.
Harvesting Beeswax
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The business of harvesting honey and beeswax is a messy one. Once the beekeeper has removed the frames from the hive, she uses a heated knife to melt through the wax caps and cut them off. The wax from the comb is lightest, purest, and needs the least rendering, so it is set aside to be worked by itself. Then, the honey and pollen are recovered from the comb, the comb is drained, and the remaining wax is added to a hot water bath for rendering.
Rendering Beeswax
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A lot happens to wax in the hive. Particles of pollen are rubbed in, other impurities gather, and the wax is subject to aging and oxidation. Before it can be used, it must be rendered. To do this, the pieces of comb are placed in water hot enough to melt the wax. Once the wax has melted, it is collected from the surface of the water and then filtered. This removes any large particles and makes the wax all the same texture, color and consistency. Depending on where the bees live and what kind of flowers they visit, the beeswax can range from a warm golden yellow to dark brown. The wax is then poured into ingots and cooled for later sale and use.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit honeycomb image by Andrzej Solnica from Fotolia.com
