So long cling film and hello Green Granny Wraps! You must check out the fabulous, reusable food wraps made from beeswax that come in a range of checkered colours. They’re the brainchild of Shropshire born Granny, Jessica Middleton.
Perfect for keeping food fresh
Jessica, who grew up in Clee Downton, talks about her sustainable product and how it came to life through a single conversation with her grandchildren about the popularity of single-use plastics and the damage they cause to the environment. It led Jessica naturally to reminiscing about the good old days and how growing up she saw her mother recycling and reusing so many things.
As a child she remembers roaming the Clee Hills on ponies, learning to milk a cow, drive a tractor and so many other life skills needed after the war. She remembers, too, shopping at Mr Ross’, the tiny grocers in the narrows in Ludlow and hacking to Stoke St Milborough to do the weekly shop.
After that discussion, Jessica began to think of using beeswax to make food wrapping using sustainable methods, eliminating the need for cling film. Mastering the process and creating a perfect wrap took a few months and quite a few mistakes. Jessica reels off a list that included writing off one iron, two ironing board covers, some roasting tins, and a clothes dryer, not to mention scraping copious amounts of wax off the kitchen floor and other collateral damage. It all finally paid off and thus, Green Granny was born.
The beeswax wraps are still made at her home in Kyre which is just over the Shropshire border in Tenbury Wells. With the support of her grandchildren and daughter, she now has a Facebook page and sale site. Her next goal is to expand into local shops and suppliers.
Green Granny wraps are colour coded and can be cut to size
Jessica has converted friends and family to beeswax wraps and cling film is officially banned. She uses her wraps to keep salads fresh and cover her leftovers. When she is in charge of picnics for her grandchildren’s many equine activities (which hopefully will resume soon), they are perfect for wrapping sandwiches and homemade biscuits as well as providing a clean surface for serving the delicious pork pies from Griffiths butchers and then wrapping and storing the pies for later, to eat on the way home!
In this current pandemic we are all now cooking a lot more and the wraps not only work perfectly in the fridge and but can also be used to keep food in the freezer. Once the wraps’ useful life is over, they can be torn into strips, rolled into a ball and used as firelighters, or just as easily thrown away in the compost bin.
Jessica chose the gingham pattern for her wraps as they are a classic, which she feels epitomises Britishness! The wraps are colour coded so that, if required, her customers can use the coloured wraps for specific uses. Wraps are sold in a large single sheet so that customers can cut wraps to their desired size.
Jessica aims to keep her packaging to a minimum to reflect the environmental ethics of the product. Postage is also easy and convenient making wraps an ideal gift too! The wrap ingredients are all sourced sustainably and Jessica hopes that as awareness of our fragile planet increases, her product can play a small part in helping to protect our world.
Find out more about Green Granny on her Facebook page
