Did You Know?... Beeswax

Image source: Mountain Rose Herbs

Beeswax is one of the new ingredients in our upcoming lip balms.  Here are a few interesting facts about it:

• Beeswax is produced by worker honey bees when they consume honey.  To produce the wax they must consume eight times as much honey by weight.

• The wax is secreted in the form of scales which are about the size of a pin head.

• Honey bees reportedly need to collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make approximately 500g (1lb) of honey, which would give about 60g (2oz) of beeswax.

• Beeswax has an indefinite shelf life - it will never go off.

• The oldest surviving beeswax candles were found in Germany and are 1400-1500 years old.

• The original recipe for Cold Cream is credited to the Roman physician Galen, and dates to the 2nd century A.D.  It consisted of a mixture of water, beeswax, olive oil and rose petals.

So the next time you pick up a beeswax product, spare a thought for the honey bees and how much went into creating the beeswax, and cherish how valuable those busy bees are!