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Value added products
By processing your beekeeping products into other useful items or foods, you add value to them. All goods made with honey and/or beeswax sell for much more than the costs of the raw ingredients.
These formulas reproduced with the kind permission of Elaine White. They are taken from her book Super formulas. Elaine White has tested all of these recipes and if you follow her ingredients and methods exactly, they will work. However you may experience difficulty in finding some of the ingredients and of course you can experiment by substituting materials that are locally available. Elaine White's book contains many such useful methods and formulas: further details are given on page 14.
ERRATA Gremlins crept in at the printers! Please note the following:
Petroleum jelly: ½ cup baby oil or mineral oil
Envelope glue: ½ cup water, ¼ cup honey; ¼ teaspoon wintergreen oil
Cheese wax: 13 ½ oz beeswax; 2 ½ oz vegetable shortening
Lip gloss: ½ teaspoon lipstick; ½ teaspoon petroleum
Grafting wax: 2 oz beeswax (not 10 oz)
1 oz = 28.35g
PETROLEUM JELLY
Petroleum jelly is easy to make and it is an ingredient of many other products:
1 oz oz beeswax
cup baby or mineral oil
Melt the beeswax in double boiler,
Stir in the mineral oil.
PROPOLIS GRANULES
Step 1: Obtain hive scrapings containing mostly propolis. Place the scrapings in heat-proof container that can later be discarded. Add enough water to cover the scrapings and heat this in 200°F oven.
The wax will melt and float on the water, while the propolis will stick to the bottom of the container. Stir often to help release the wax. Maintain the heat for at least two hours. Remove the can from the oven and let it cool
Step 2: Remove the waxy layer that formed on the surface of the water. Pour off the water and save the coloured mass beneath it.
Step 3: Place the container in a freezer. When the propolis is brittle, chip the granules from the container. Spread the propolis granules on paper to dry. Store them in sealed container.
HERBAL OINTMENT
4 oz dry, powdered herb
6 oz fat or oil
1 tablespoon honey
1 oz beeswax
(The fat or oil can be cocoa butter, lanolin, mineral oil or vegetable shortening)
Place ingredients in 200°F oven for three hours. Strain the ointment and store it in a tightly sealed tin or wide-mouth jar.
Stop all bleeding, apply the herbal ointment and bandage. Repeat the treatment daily for three days.
PROPOLIS LIP BALM
1 tablespoon beeswax
1 teaspoon propolis granules
1 teaspoon lanolin
3 tablespoons mineral oil
A few drops of wintergreen essential oil
Melt the ingredients in a small double boiler by placing a can in boiling water. Stir until it cools.
ENVELOPE GLUE
This is moistening-type glue for stamps, labels or the flaps of envelopes.
1 tablespoon gum Arabic
cup water
1 tablespoon laundry starch
cup honey
teaspoon wintergreen essential oil
Heat the ingredients in double boiler for 15 minutes. Add the wintergreen oil if it is desired to improve the taste. With brush, apply very thin coat of the hot glue to paper and allow it to dry. Moisten the glue to seal the envelope or attach labels.
When stored in jar and allowed to cool, this glue thickens and can be used as a normal paper paste.
CHAPPED-LIP BALM
Petroleum jelly is good for chapped lips but this formula is even bette.r
1 tablespoon shredded beeswax
1 tablespoon petroleum
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon lanolin
3-4 drops essential oil
Melt the wax, lanolin and petroleum jelly in a double boiler. Add the honey and essential oil. Essential oils of peppermint, eucalyptus, wintergreen and camphor slightly numb painful lips.
Stir the mixture until it cools.
CHEESE WAX
After the air drying period, when cheese has developed hard, dry rind, it must be protected with wax to prevent mould and further drying.
13 oz beeswax
2 oz vegetable shortening
Step 1: Combine the ingredients and heat them to 240°F in an oven. Use an oven thermometer and check it often to see the proper temperature is maintained.
Step 2: Hold the cheese under the hot wax for 10 minutes to Rill the surface bacteria.
Remove the cheese and allow the wax to cool and harden. Reduce the temperature of the wax to 160°F,
Step 3: Dip the cheese and remove it with one quick, smooth motion. Repeat this step until the wax is about 1/16 inch thick.
LIP GLOSS
Simple petroleum jelly is good clear lip gloss. Lipstick colours this formula. This is good way to use lipstick that is too dark because the gloss will be a lighter colour.
1 teaspoon shredded beeswax
teaspoon lipstick
teaspoon petroleum jelly
Melt the ingredients in a small can placed in boiling water. Stir it well and pour it into a smaller jar.
TOOTHACHE PELLETS
250 parts honey
250 parts precipitated chalk
250 parts orris root
7 parts tincture of opium
7 parts tincture of myrrh
2 parts oil of rose
2 parts oil of cloves
2 parts oil of nutmeg
(all parts by weight)
Mix all ingredients well
GRAFTING WAX
10 oz rosin or propolis granules
10 oz beeswax
1 oz charcoal powder
1 tablespoon linseed oil
Grafting wax is used by gardeners and crop growers to seal the union of plant tissue.
Heat the beeswax and rosin at 250°F until they melt. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
Allow the wax to cool to a spreadable consistency and brush it onto the graft.
