DIY Reusable Food Wrap

Plastics get a bad rap in our modern society, blamed for causing cancer and filling up dump sites.  While plastic is overused in our society, it also has saved countless lives in numerous applications in food and medicine.  Plastic isn't all bad. 

But it is something we cannot DIY.  We need to be prepared to compensate for that.  And one way we use plastic a lot is in food wraps and bags.  It's the most common way to protect sandwiches and keep them fresh.  So I was intrigued when I first learned about reusable food wrap.  It would be a great way to protect our food if there were no plastic wrap to do the job. 

But after thinking about it for a while, I have to say that I do not believe reusable food wrap will work in a dry environment, which is what I live in year-round.  While plastic wrap will protect sandwiches until lunchtime rolls around, regular plastic wrap doesn’t work to keep a loaf of bread from drying out here.  So I just don’t think reusable food wrap will work, either, but I wanted to give it a try.  What I specifically think won’t work is the ability to stick.  Maybe I’m wrong.  Maybe it will work for covering bowls in the refrigerator.  Maybe it will work for wrapping sandwiches.  It's a day to experiment.  Let’s see.

Materials needed:

Lightweight 100% cotton fabric, preferably in darker colors

8 oz Beeswax

1 oz Coconut oil

2-4 oz Refined pine pitch (see last week’s post)

Double boiler, with a disposable metal can (a #10 can will work)

Parchment paper (or waxed paper)

Old towel

In a double boiler over moderate heat, melt the beeswax, coconut oil, and refined pine pitch together.  This may take 30-60 minutes. 

In the meantime, prepare the fabric.  For the best and most attractive results, only use 100% cotton and use darker fabrics.  The beeswax gives a yellowed tint to the wraps that may not be so appealing on lighter fabrics.  Standard sizes of these wraps sold on Amazon and at craft fairs are 8x8”, 11x11”, and 14x14”.  Of course, you can make whatever size you wish.  Some people custom size their wraps to fit their own containers.  Some cut them in circles to fit bowls.  Some make reusable sandwich bags.  You’ve got a lot of options here.  You might wish to use pinking shears to prevent fraying; I loaned out two pairs of my grandmother’s pinking shears 25 years ago and I’m still waiting for them to be returned.  So I just tore the fabric into squares of various sizes.  The beeswax coating will hold the threads in just fine.  Alternatively, you could cut squares on the bias.

Some sites suggest painting the wax mixture onto the fabric.  I started this way, but I don’t like it.  The wax mixture hardens a bit before I get it to the fabric.  I prefer another suggestion of dipping the fabric pieces in the wax mixture and then spreading the mixture around as evenly as possible. Do this with all the fabric pieces and then roll them together. 

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and put the roll of fabric pieces on the prepared cookie sheet.  Place the cookie sheet in a 275°F oven for 30 minutes to help distribute the wax mixture. 

Remove from oven and unroll.  If you have bare or heavily coated spots, stack these pieces on top of each other.  Sandwich these between sheets of parchment or waxed paper and place on top of an old towel.  Iron the parchment paper over these spots to distribute the wax mixture more evenly. 

Other websites suggest just using beeswax and coconut oil in a 3 to 1 ratio.  I made a few of these for comparison, using the directions given above.  These were much easier to make. 

So what were the results?

The wraps made with pine pitch were a little bit sticky, but nowhere near enough to adhere to a bowl, cup, or pan.  I really do suspect this has something to do with humidity.  The wraps without pine pitch stuck almost just as well. 

As something of a test, I cut three slices of bread.  I wrapped one in the pine pitch wrap, another in the non-pine pitch wrap, and a third was the control with plastic wrap.  Both DIY wraps worked pretty well, but not as well as plastic wrap.  As far as keeping the bread soft, the edge goes to the non-pine pitch variety, and both work well enough to protect a sandwich for a few hours.  I wouldn’t rely on them to protect food for longer than that or in the refrigerator. 

However, there is something really important to note about using pine pitch in reusable food wraps, something that none of the individuals recommending these wraps mentions:  You risk having food take on the fragrance of the pine pitch! 

I freely admit that I used pitch from pinon pines, one of the most aromatic of the pines.  Pitch from a Jeffrey pine, which smells a lot like vanilla, may work much better.  Commercially refined pitch may have some or all of the aromatic oils removed, so those may work.  But if you are DIYing this and gathering your own pitch, it’s something to be aware of.  Pine pitch-flavored apple pie (yeah, that was the first food I covered with the pine pitch wraps) just doesn’t cut it. 

Would I make any of these wraps again?  If I lived in a humid area and could get some less aromatic pitch, I’d consider it.  Here in the desert I would make a few beeswax and coconut oil ones for covering sandwiches, but only when I was about to run out of plastic wrap and there is no chance of re-supply.  For now I will stick with the restaurant supply 3000 ft roll of plastic wrap that lasts our family about two years.  With conservative use we could probably make that roll last three or four years without too much effort.  As far as preparedness goes, sometimes the best choice is to stock up on the advances of modern technology.

Links to related posts:

Refining Pine Pitch