Earlier today, Alison Knox arrived at the Radio Newark studio bearing goodies for the Girls Around Town to sample – tiny pots of her own lovely honey and even tinier pots of her equally lovely beeswax balm.
She promised to share the recipe for the balm so, for those of you who’d like to impress your nearest and dearest with your skills by making a delicious, chocolatey-tasting beeswax product that has many skincare uses, here it is…
Due to the strict legislation around the selling of natural skincare products, she’s sharing this in the spirit of gift making or for your own personal use!
Use only pure beeswax that you can be sure contains no nasties – if you have your own bees, their wax is ideal of course or you can buy from a reputable source.
And use only pure, preferably organic, edible quality oils and the best quality cacao butter you can find.
Beeswax Balm or Salve
Equipment you will need
- A small Pyrex measuring jug
- A traditional plastic ice cube tray
- A bain marie or pan of hot water into which you can place the jug
- A metal stirrer such as a skewer
- Weighing scales
- Suitable clean pots to put your balm in (try these)
- A clean surface to work on
Ingredients
- 25g of beeswax
- 25g of hard cacao butter
- 25g of hard oil, such as coconut
- 2 x 25mls of any edible oils, such as olive, apricot kernel, avocado, almond, rapeseed, macadamia or coconut
Directions
- When you render your wax down to make salves, it may be helpful to pour it directly into a lightly oiled ice cube tray. This will give you neat individual blocks of approxinately 12.5g and save you hacking lumps off a big piece which can be very difficult and dangerous.
- Boil some water in a small pan or bain marie. It will need to cover about ¼ of the way up your jug and not splash water into your mix.
- Weigh 25g of beeswax and put it into the jug immersed in boiling water. Stir until melted.
- Add 25g of hard cacao butter and allow to melt completely into the wax.
- Add 25g of hard oil such as coconut and melt completely into the wax.
- Add 2 x 25mls of any edible oils of your choice and mix well (these may go cloudy when you add them to the hot oil but just keep stirring until clear). You can experiment with whatever oils you prefer to use but using at least one hard oil gives a better set to the mix.
- The final level on your Pyrex jug should read 150mls.
- Pour immediately and carefully into the pots, taking care not to splash yourself with the hot oils. Leave to cool and set and then pop the lids on. You don’t want condensation in your pots.
The salves/balms can be used for lips, nails, cracked heels, rough elbows… anything that is chafed and needs a little TLC.
Girls Around Town 