How To Distinguish Beeswax From A Surrogate, The Medicinal Properties Of Beeswax, Garden Var Recipes - The Benefits Of Beeswax - 2

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Beeswax is a unique product produced by the bee family

It is useful to know that in addition to natural, bee, experts distinguish between several types of natural waxes - animal, vegetable, mineral and artificial origin. Real beeswax is considered a very scarce and expensive product. It is very important to be able to distinguish a fake from a natural wax, known for its medicinal qualities, and also necessary in beekeeping for the manufacture of beeswax (construction of honeycombs). This knowledge reduces the risk of purchasing a low-quality product.

Unscrupulous sellers falsify wax by adding or substituting cheap industrial wax products. According to experts, falsification of wax by "weeds" is relatively easy to carry out. First of all, it is important to learn how to evaluate it visually. The color of the wax can be of different shades (white, to dark brown and even black), depending on the plants from which the bees took pollen and honey, from the color of propolis in the hive, from the age. Light wax is valued much higher than dark wax. Real wax has a pleasant honey smell. The presence of impurities in it (paraffin, stearin, rosin and ceresin) leads to the fact that the smell of wax is different, corresponding to the additives.

The surface is fused with natural wax - smooth or slightly concave. By adding paraffin, according to experts, the surface of the ingot becomes strongly concave. When hit with a hammer, high-quality wax easily splits (a fine-grained structure is clearly visible on the break), on a fresh cut with a knife it is matte, and wax clogged with impurities does not split, forms a dent around which the "pulp" brightens, and the cut is shiny and smooth, separate crystals stand out … If you run a sharp object over the surface of a bar of wax contaminated with paraffin, cerazin or rosin, the chips will crumble. With quality wax, it curls into a long, continuous spiral.

Real wax becomes plastic if it is kneaded with your fingers; when it is chewed, it sticks to the teeth. On wax with an admixture of paraffin, the fingers feel the grease of the piece, and with the content of stearin, lard or rosin, it sticks to the teeth. In addition, the impurity of cerazine can give a color inhomogeneity of the surface. It is also known that beeswax has a significantly higher specific gravity than mineral waxes, which makes it possible to establish its falsification. For example, at 20 ° C in a mixture (alcohol, water) with a specific gravity of 0.95, natural wax sinks, falsified (even with an admixture of 10% mineral wax) floats on the surface. It is believed that the detection of stearin or rosin impurities is easy: 1 g of wax is boiled in 10 g of alcohol, the resulting solution is cooled to 20 ° C, then filtered and water is added. The milky color of the solution and the presence of sediment indicate falsification.

The unusual properties of real beeswax as a miracle of Nature have determined its use since ancient times. Thanks to the warming properties of wax, the famous physician Hippocrates suggested applying it in a heated form on the patient's head and neck to treat angina. In the "Canon of Medicine" the famous ancient Arab scientist Avicenna proposes to use wax in many of his medicinal recipes. Interestingly, wax has always played an important role in the rituals of various religions. In ancient Rome, on holidays in honor of Saturn, Bacchus and other gods and goddesses, huge wax candles burned with a bright flame. In Christianity, the wax candle began to mean a symbol of the sacrificial life of the Savior.

Before the invention of paper, letters were applied to flat wooden planks coated with an even layer of wax on one side. They wrote with a special metal stick with a pointed end, like a pen; and with a blunt end, it was smoothed, if necessary, the painted surface. For centuries, painters have used wax-based paints: they have both extraordinary strength and remarkable brilliance. And although now the latest technology has seriously pushed wax painting, wax is still an essential element of oil paints.

Archaeologists have found that since the beginning of the second millennium, beekeeping in Russia was very widespread and one of the most important trades of the population. It has always been considered one of the most popular commodities in exchange in kind. Beekeeping products (especially wax) were extensively traded with Western Europe. During the reign of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, there was even a rite, according to which, at the wedding, the groom put a wax candle weighing "a pood and a quarter", and the bride - "a pood and a quarter."

From old Russian books, we learn that, among other beekeeping products, healers and healers gave many recipes for the use of wax in the treatment of injuries and wounds of warriors (later scientists confirmed that wax is harmful to a number of pathogenic microbes). In Russia, wax was recommended for nursing mothers to stimulate milk production.

For several centuries in Russia, huge quantities of wax were consumed to illuminate rooms in the homes of wealthy people and temples during church rites. Each of us has heard about the famous wax museum (London), which is sometimes called the "wax kingdom". It has existed for more than a century and a half. There are exhibited wax figures of kings, queens, kings, the most famous public and statesmen of different states in costumes of the respective eras. A similar museum is organized in Amsterdam; the Museum of Wax Figures, located on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, has a small history. Beeswax is widely used in the manufacture of medical dummies.

Thanks to wax rollers and special technology, the voices of L. N. Tolstoy, A. A. Blok, V. Mayakovsky, V. F. Komissarzhevskaya, F. I. Shalyapin, V. I. Kachalov, V. Nezhdanova, L. V. Sobinov and other famous writers and artists.

The wax is able to maintain its qualities for many years. For example, bars of wax found in the ancient Egyptian pyramids were quite soft.

Beeswax is recommended to be chewed with honey as a remedy that can cleanse the nasopharynx and is indispensable for sinusitis and asthma.

More than half a century ago, a technology was developed for obtaining a fragrant essential oil - an extract from natural wax (more than 5 kg from 1 ton of raw materials), which is a valuable product for the perfume industry. This extract is not inferior in quality to expensive rose and jasmine oils, and is much cheaper in cost.

Pharmacologists of the past centuries have already found out that beeswax is well absorbed by the skin and gives it a smooth and delicate look. For over 300 years, it has been included in many cosmetics (it serves as an excellent thickening base for the preparation of various lotions and lipsticks). Beeswax is found in nourishing, astringent, cleansing, whitening creams and face masks. Creams have a certain popularity: cleansing (beeswax - 6 g, peach oil - 27.5 g, borax - 0.5 g, water - 16 ml); nutritious (beeswax - 3 g, spermacet - 6, peach oil - 24 g, glycerin - 4 g); for oily skin (beeswax - 5 g, ammonia - 5 ml, water - 7.5 ml). Popular masks (in g): nutritious (beeswax - 5, honey - 70, juice of one white lily onion), astringent (beeswax - 10, peach oil-10, lanolin -10,petroleum jelly -50, zinc sulfate - 0.5, bismuth nitrate - 1, zinc oxide - 8). Such masks protect the skin from drying out, retaining moisture well. There is an interesting recipe for anti-wrinkle cream (in equal amounts): beeswax, onion juice, honey, juice from white lily flowers are placed in porcelain dishes, the wax is heated until liquefied, and then the mixture is gradually cooled, stirring with a wooden stick. This composition of the cream-mask is abundantly placed on the face washed with warm water, after half an hour, removing its excess with a soft napkin. After a while, the face is lightly powdered.juice from the flowers of a white lily is placed in a porcelain dish, the wax is heated until liquefaction, and then the mixture is gradually cooled, stirring with a wooden stick. This composition of the cream-mask is abundantly placed on the face washed with warm water, after half an hour, removing its excess with a soft napkin. After a while, the face is lightly powdered.juice from the flowers of a white lily is placed in a porcelain dish, the wax is heated until liquefaction, and then the mixture is gradually cooled, stirring with a wooden stick. This composition of the cream-mask is abundantly placed on the face washed with warm water, after half an hour, removing its excess with a soft napkin. After a while, the face is lightly powdered.

Everyone who is in the slightest degree familiar with gardening knows that one cannot do without a garden varnish in fruit growing. It is used in the treatment of fruit crops and in vaccinations. Although it is available on the open market, gardeners, as a rule, take natural wax to make their interesting recipes for their own high-quality vara, as it creates favorable conditions for healing mechanical injuries and wounds received after being damaged by pathogens. It is thanks to these properties of wax that the acceleration of the accretion of cuttings and wound healing is observed, the successful protection of open plant tissue from both waterlogging and drying out

Here are some of the gardener's proven wax recipes

Ingredients 1: fresh unsalted lard, beeswax, rosin in a 1: 1: 4 ratio. First, melt the lard, then add wax and crushed rosin. After boiling (20 minutes), the mixture is cooled, kneaded well with your hands and wrapped in parchment or oiled paper to protect it from drying.

Composition 2: beeswax, rosin, linseed oil (raw), crushed and sieved charcoal; proportion 2: 10: 0.5: 1. Rosin, linseed oil and coal are added to the melted wax. After boiling, the mixture is cooled. Warm the putty slightly before use.

Composition 3: beeswax - 400 g, turpentine - 400 g, rosin - 400 g, lard - 85 g. Add crushed rosin and lard to the melted wax. After cooling, turpentine is poured into the mixture.

Composition 4: wax, rosin, propolis, turpentine; proportion 3: 6: 2: 1. Melt wax and propolis over low heat, add chopped rosin and boil. When the mixture has cooled, pour in the turpentine and stir well. Before using the var, knead it with your fingers.

And, of course, a significant part of the wax from beekeepers is used to make the foundation, which bees use to build honeycombs.