Abeego’s Four-In-One Fire Starter scorches all the others in one inferno. So long ignitable liquid, kindling, pressed wax tinder, and even natural tinder like dry grass, leaves, and pine needles. Yes, this one tool lights even the most challenging fires with minimal effort. No matter the environment, this fire starter morphs into just the right fuel for the job limited only by your imagination, ingenuity, and tenacity. You bring the spark, we bring the Swiss Army Knife of Fire Starter.
4 Common Ways to Light a Fire vs. Abeego
Lighting a fire is part art, part science, and more often, a generational wisdom passed down for a trusted method. No matter the method, our Fire Starter can likely replicate it and probably beat it. They’re shapeshifters, morphing from kindle to tinder, you can spread them to light a large surface, or press them into a brick for a long-lasting and concentrated burn. Think of it as a high-powered, multi-purpose wick that’s easy to use, waterproof, wind resistant, and quick to light for fires that range from recreational to survival. This light-it-and-leave-it fire starter will have the campfire, charcoal barbecue, wood stove, or fireplace roaring before the first beer is cracked or first hand is dealt. Read on to learn how we stack up to the other guys.
Ignitable Liquid vs. Abeego
Sure these smelly, chemical-heavy, potentially dangerous igniters light a large surface on fire but hopefully, we’ve all seen enough fail videos to avoid this method altogether. Worst case scenario, you’ll get first-degree burns or start a wildfire. The best case will leave you sans eyebrows and with a nickname you’ll never live down.
Abeego, on the other hand, is all-natural, has a pleasant aroma, and no harmful chemicals. It can be spread continuously to light a large surface area with no dangerous flare-ups so it’s ideal for starting pellet-based fires easily, with no strenuous blowing or fanning required. Bonus, your hot dogs won’t taste like they were dipped in gasoline.
Kindling vs. Abeego
Kindling; you know it as fatwood, chopped wood kindling, or good old-fashioned twigs has been used to get a fire going since the dawn of time but it’s far from hassle-free. Starting a fire with kindling requires a sharp blade, solid know-how, dry wood, and even dryer tinder. Even the most seasoned vet knows when campers are tired and hungry the optimal materials can be as elusive as a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. If it’s already dark, it’s off to bed cold, wet, and hungry.
Skip the stress and hassle with our superior, Four-in-One Abeego Fire Starter. No other fire starter can shapeshift from a stick of kindling to dry tinder without any tools or skill required. Remarkably versatile, they can light like a stick of kindling or be peeled apart to create dry tinder! Ultra lightweight and waterproof, makes them a welcome back-packing addition. You’ll be shouting, “Dinner time,” before the gang sets up their tents.
Pressed Wax vs. Abeego
This one trick-pony masquerades as convenient but anyone who’s been forced to use them knows they come with more hassle than ease. DIY Dixie cups or store-bought, they vary greatly from product to product and often require prolonged lighting times. When Mother Nature kicks up a gale you’d better have a torch to get these lit because a match or basic lighter won’t cut it.
Wind isn’t an issue for our Fire Starter. Our one-of-a-kind design means you can peel back just the right number of layers required for the conditions you face. Each layer is thin enough to light instantaneously. But thick enough to resist being blown out by the wind. With a bit of know-how, even a flint can get these bad boys started. The littlest firekeeper in training, under adult supervision, of course, can feel the success of starting a warming campfire.
Natural Tinder vs. Abeego
Paper, dry grass, and leaves do the trick when in abundance but sometimes gathering them is easier said than done. If you’re RV’ing, have physical challenges, or just don’t want to be bothered then gathering tinder is hands down the least reliable and most tedious method. If you’re determined to do it the way your grandfather did, you know you’ll be crouched down blowing and fanning for god knows how long while your family peppers you with ways to do it faster.
You’re not going to struggle to light a fire in front of your family again and you’ll never scour a stripped campground for scare tinder with these ridiculously reliable marvels in your back pocket. Abeego Fire Starter are your ticket to knocking your fire-making rival from the top spot and taking the crown. All hail the King, you!
7 Reasons Abeego is the Best Fire Starter in the World
Whether you’re against all odds, life on the line, or you just want to get cooking, you don’t want to doubt your fire lighting tools. Let’s just say, if MacGyver had access to Abeego Fire Starter, the show would’ve ended at the first commercial break.
Gain all this—sacrifice nothing:
🔥Fuss-free, light-it-and-leave-it reliable.
🔥Rises to the occasion no matter the environment.
🔥It’s a stick! No, it's a leaf! No, it’s grass! Actually, it’s all three.
🔥Burns long & slow or hot & fast, it’s up to you.
🔥All-natural, chemical-free, upcycled for the lightest footprint ever.
🔥Waterproof, ultra-lightweight, takes little to no space.
🔥Quick to light, wind resistant. No fanning or blowing required.
How to Use Abeego Fire Starter
Weather conditions, wood quality, and the type of fire you’re lighting will determine how you use our Fire Starter. One package can light 10-20 fires depending on the elements you're up against. Seasoned firemakers, experienced with Abeego, can stretch them even further. From pizza ovens to a classic campfire. Wet, dry, or even windy, we’ve got a way to slay the fire.
How to Light a Wood Pellet Fire
To light a large surface pull individual strips, spread evenly over the surface, and light each one. Check out our friends at Coulee Outdoor! To light a pizza oven, pull individual strips, crumple into a loose ball and light. The number of strips required will depend on outdoor conditions, so start with 7-10 individual strips and add or subtract until you determine how many will light your pellets the first time, every time.
How to Light a Dry Kindling
Hands down the easiest fire to light! Individual strips, gathered into a loose and airy ball, burn hot and fast and is all it takes to get dry kindling going. If an abundance of dry twigs are on hand, fewer strips are needed, conserving them for a time when the environment and conditions are more challenging.
How to Light a Wet Kindling
Tight, compact, and long burning, one full stick used as kindling will generally slay damp conditions. For added fire power build your kindling structure on a base of a loose, airy Abeego Fire Starter. Add full sticks as needed to keep the heat on until bigger logs have caught fire and the result is achieved.
How to Make a Feather Stick, no Blade Required
Feather sticks made with kindling are a must acquire life-skill if you haven’t earned that outdoor badge. But if you don’t want to risk your fingers, then it’s Abeego to the rescue! If you can pull a piece of tape, you can make a feather stick; no blade, hand-eye coordination, or first aid kit required. Work smarter, not harder.
A Zero Waste Commitment isn’t just Earth-Friendly, it’s the Right Thing to Do
We eat root-to-stem, value the whole-beast, and believe it’s our responsibility to steward the resources generously supplied by Mother Nature to not just sustain us today but to regenerate for tomorrow. That’s why we made the Abeego Fire Starter.
Crafted from flawed, imperfect or production floor cutting waste in our beeswax food wrap manufacturing facility, they’re the lynch pin to us achieving our zero-waste, circular manufacturing goal. Between our Fire Starter and our Mini Campfire, not a single shred of beeswax wrap EVER finds its way in the trash. These two products are never made using virgin beeswax wrap, because it’s simply too valuable to burn, so supplies are limited, or sort of limited. We’ve been hoarding our waste for 16 years, so the good news is we have enough to keep you burning for a long, long time!
As the season of sun-kissed days and balmy nights approaches, now is the perfect time to consider revamping your self-care rituals to embrace products that not only support your daily routines but also leave a positive impact on the planet. From skincare to summer adventure essentials, We’ve curated a collection of value-aligned brands that will enhance your Summer experience!
Blume, Mala The Brand, Everist, Meow Meow Tweet, Foster Skincare, Elate Beauty, Abeego, Aisle, and Tofino Towel have joined forces to celebrate the season! We’ve partnered together to offer an exclusive discount of 10% to 20% so you can kickstart your Summer with a range of products we know you’ll love.
Blume recreates classic café flavours with the magic of superfoods that support your sleep, digestion, energy, and focus. Our superfood lattes are low to no caffeine, refined sugar-free, syrup-free, gluten-free, plant-based, certified organic, and less than a dollar per cup. We’re also proud to be doing our best for Mama Earth! Blume is Plastic Neutral Plus certified by CleanHub which means 2x the plastic we produce is diverted from our oceans. If you're looking to enhance your daily rituals, give your coffee a tasty superfood boost or swap it entirely for your fave latte that doesn't compromise your wellness goals.
Use Code: SUPERSUMMER for 15% off all latte blends until June 30th!
Mala the Brand is a Vancouver based eco-friendly coconut-soy candle company, created with non-toxic clean ingredients from the candle down to the packaging. Our small business started in our founder's home in late 2019 and can now be found in over 350+ retailers including Indigo, Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, and has been featured in Allure, Forbes, The New York Times and more!
Use Code: ELATE15 for 15% off your new favourite candles until June 30th!
Named one of Time’s Best Inventions, Everist is leading the waterless beauty movement with the first-ever hair and body concentrates. These skincare-packed pastes are 3x concentrated and simply activated with the water you’re already using in the shower. Formulated to the highest clean standards these plant-based concentrates are free from parabens, sulfates, silicones, dyes and synthetic fragrances. Packaged in 100% recycled and recyclable aluminum tubes, Everist is eco that’s an upgrade.
Use Code: ELATE20 for 20% off until June 30th!
Founded in 2009, Meow Meow Tweet is an AAPI and queer lead company.
As the first brand to introduce 100% backyard compostable deodorant sticks and lip balms, their skincare, body care, and deodorant is always Leaping Bunny Certified and palm-oil free, designed to minimize plastic consumption, and offered at an accessible price point.
Packaging focuses on two fundamental ideas: (1) materials that break down naturally and (2) the creation of circular systems of reuse that eliminate waste. Meow Meow Tweet is also a certified Plastic Negative and Climate Neutral company.
Use Code: PLASTICFREEMMT for 20% off sitewide until June 30th
Foster a connection between our skin, the products we use, and the plants they come from.
Designed to be simple and effective. To work with our skin to nourish, protect and care - all while doing the same for our planet. Grow your knowledge, while shrinking your footprint. Support your skin, as well as your community. Model a closed-loop skincare system, refilling rather than discarding. Save the planet, and celebrate your skin.
Use Code: Summer20 for 20% off your order until June 30th
Curate a beauty routine that's good for you and the planet.
With Elate Beauty's refillable palette system, you can say goodbye to single-use packaging and hello to a low-waste beauty ritual. Vegan, Cruelty-free, Carbon Neutral, and B CORP certified, Elate is committed to creating high-performing products with ethical ingredients, sustainable packaging, and transparent marketing.
Use code: SummerRituals20 for 20% off your Elate essentials until June 30th
What if we’ve been storing fresh, living food all wrong? That’s the question that fuelled the invention of Abeego, the first beeswax food wrap in 2008. Never toss fresh food again with Abeego, our food wrap protects, breathes, and mimics nature's peel to extend the life of food far beyond your expectations. Abeego is B Corp Certified, proudly made in Canada, and has achieved 100% zero waste production
Use code: SUMMER15 for 15% off Abeego until June 30th
Aisle planted the seeds for the sustainable period products revolution back in 1993. Under our previous brand Lunapads, we began marketing the first modern reusable pads and leakproof period underwear, long before they were cool. Now Aisle is building on our legacy as industry leaders and continuing to improve upon our high standards of comfort, sustainability, performance and inclusivity. Promising the most comfortable, high-performing and ethically-made period products on the planet.
Use code: SUSTAINABLE20 for 20% Aisle Until June 30th
We believe in a sustainable approach to design and that choosing the right products starts with choosing the right materials. We work directly with various fair-trade artisan makers from around the globe to create high quality multipurpose products that allow you to do more so you can own less. Every product that we develop is crafted with the intention to be equally suitable for outdoor and indoor use encouraging our customers to truly Live Outside & Love Inside.
Use Code: Elate20 for 20% off full priced items (excludes sale items) and valid until June 30th
]]>Our camp-cooking friends over at Cast & Iron show us how to easily elevate camping meals & make the outdoor cooking experience an enjoyable & cherished process. They recently took Abeego Food Wrap on a camping trip to create the best avocado toast we’ve seen.
PREP TIME: 10 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 15 minutes
SERVINGS: 3
TOOLS:
INGREDIENTS:
Produce:
Bakery:
Dairy:
Garnishes:
Step 1: Reach for your Abeego reusable food wrap and wrap your fresh foods up for safekeeping. Delicate herbs, halved avocados, and loaves of bread - Abeego’s got you.
Step 2: Pack the goods in your cooler/backpack. Hiking to and from camp? Abeego is plastic-free, light as a feather, and packs down to nearly nothing for your way out.
Step 3: Once you've checked your local campfire regulations, create your fire pit kindling in a fire-safe area and strike your Wolf & Grizzly Fire Set to get the flames going (Cast & Iron also used the Wolf & Grizzly Fire Safe & Grill to fully kit out their camp kitchen - goodbye cumbersome camping stoves!). Place a pot of water on a grate over the fire (a moka pot full of hot water for camp coffee doesn’t hurt either!)
Step 4: Unwrap your still-fresh-and-tasty food from Abeego as you cook.
Step 5: Scoop three ripe avocados into a small bowl, roughly mashing with a spoon. Grate a few cloves of garlic, zest a lime into the avo with a microplane, squeeze a lime’s worth of juice over the mixture, season to taste with salt and pepper, and set aside.
Step 6: Grab a slice of bread (or two, or three) and place on the grate so the flames lightly char the slices. Flip with tongs. Once both sides have some color, set aside.
Step 7: While a sunny side or fried egg might be the usual go-to for placing atop the mashed avocado, Cast & Iron’s favorite cooking method is to poach the eggs - gently create a vortex in the boiling water by swirling with a spoon. Crack the large eggs into the swirling water, being careful not to overcrowd the pot. Wait for six minutes (or to your desired softness/hardness) before removing with a slotted spoon.
Step 8: To plate up, slather a healthy portion of the smashed avocado mixture onto the toasted bread, lay the poached egg in the middle, and top with feta, cilantro, daikon shoots, sea salt, pepper, and a healthy sprinkling of chili flakes.
Voila! Outdoor avocado toast recipe is complete! It’s best enjoyed with a good view, a breath of fresh air & the sounds of birds chirping.
We encourage you to put your own spin on it. Red pepper flakes & balsamic drizzle? Lemon juice & oregano? Scrambled eggs & guacamole on a bagel instead of toast? The choices are endless!
We can’t wait to see how you level up your camp cooking game this year.
Take your camping meals to a whole new level with Abeego.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
]]>From digging in the garden to baking bread together on Sunday mornings, we thank Dad for shaping these gratifying food memories and stories.
With Father's Day around the corner, here's our top picks for every father-figure in your life.
GIFT: FAN FAVORITES BUNDLE
He cooks at home often and has a passion for fresh food. Fully stock the kitchen with Abeego and never toss fresh food again!
GIFT: 2 LARGE SQUARE AND 1 LARGE RECTANGLE
The smell of fresh baked bread brings back memories of Sunday morning sourdough, fresh cinnamon buns on the weekends, and Dad's best chocolate chip cookies.
GIFT: MINI CAMPFIRE
He’s an expert on the grill (or thinks he is!) and is always looking for the best and fastest way to light the charcoal BBQ chimney. Meet Abeego Mini Campfire!
How to use Mini Campfire to light a charcoal BBQ chimney:
Simply light and place the chimney on top, the coals will be ready in no time. Note: place the campfire on a heat proof surface where you won’t need to move the campfire after lighting the chimney (ie: the BBQ grill). Cover with the lid to extinguish!
GIFT: THE ESSENTIALS
Nothing beats fresh tomatoes from the garden with Dad! The Essentials bundle includes a variety of sizes for him to extend the life of his garden harvest.
You’re a practical perfectionist, so the Variety pack speaks to your need for incredibly useful and functional sizes. If it’s not versatile, it doesn't belong in your kitchen.
You can’t help but share one of your wraps when someone’s curious about how they work. You keep a pack of 5 small square beeswax wraps on hand because and hand them out without a second thought because you can’t stand the thought of neglected food.
You never fail, ever, so you have the family pack to cover all your bases, and then some. If there’s fresh food to be wrapped, you have an Abeego ready.
You strive to never be ordinary. The set of rectangle wraps match your creative nature to fold bags & pouches to keep the most moody of foods.
You love to learn and are endlessly curious. You’re keen to test Abeego’s abilities to keep food fresh so you compare the flavor of cilantro stored in a jar of water vs a large square beeswax wrap.
You value security and practicality, so having the Essentials beeswax wrap bundle means you’re extra prepared with every size to be set up for success.
You live your life at 100%! Full of energy and spontaneity, you’re always trying new foods & recipes, keeping plenty of Abeego wraps on hand, but you’re not afraid of wrapping similar foods together in one if you’re short. Sure, let’s toss all herbs into a large rectangle beeswax wrap together!
You know what you want and as a leader, you pick the best selling Variety and Large Rectangle for your collection. Confident in your food knowledge, you know these sizes will transform your kitchen and your life.
You’re easy-going and accommodate everyone’s needs. Having a full collection of wraps means a cool, calm kitchen.
Abeego beeswax wraps will last at least a year with regular use and proper care. Proper care means washing in cold water only, and avoiding contact with raw meat, direct heat, and oily foods.
While Abeego can last well over a year, they are a consumable good you’ll need to replace at some point. It’s time to grab a fresh Abeego when your wrap feels worn out, i.e. the wax has thinned revealing the fabric.
Avoid the temptation to recoat your Abeego at home. Not only will you spend way too much time cleaning up your kitchen afterward, it’s never the same as a fresh sheet. We’ve created a unique formula and infusion process that can’t be replicated. With over 15 years of experience, we know what we’re talking about!
With less wax and fabric exposed, your Abeego will stain easier, hold on to food odors, and most importantly, let too much air pass through, causing food to deteriorate.
Here’s where the fun begins! Here are our top 5 ways to give your Abeego wraps a second life:
In order for us to keep fresh food out of the compost we need to understand it better.
Lemon and avocado peels, onion and garlic skins, cheese or melon rinds all breathe, without exception. They allow gas to permeate the barrier while protecting the flesh from direct contact with air and moisture. Lemons hang from the tree for weeks, onions sit in a cold room for months and cheese lives in a cave for years. If nature had led the teams developing plastic food wrap you can be 100% certain she would’ve made it breathe like Abeego!
Honestly, it feels like we can stop right here but in case you’re still not convinced here are two more sciency reasons.
Without getting too technical, respiration uses oxygen and releases energy stored in the plant's carbohydrates. This process produces carbon dioxide, heat and water. In airtight environments like plastic wrap, this natural process results in condensation which causes food to spoil. However in a breathable, vapour permeable environment like Abeego, the carbon dioxide escapes rather than turning into trapped excess moisture, extending the life of fresh food inside.
In transpiration, water evaporates into the air from the surface of a plant and is replaced by water taken up by the roots. So when the plant has been harvested, it cannot replace the expelled water leading to shrinking, shriveling, and wilting. The rate of transpiration increases without a protective barrier. Airtight environments promote condensation and spoilage-causing-microorganisms leading to rotten food. If the fresh food is protected with a breathable food wrap with an antibacterial formula like Abeego, it’s more likely to slowly dry than rot.
Living and breathing Abeego for the past 16 years has altered our understanding of fresh food forever. It’s become glaringly obvious that airtight plastic kills fresh food. What feels like normal food loss, rot and waste is not normal at all, in fact it’s often preventable.
With almost two decades of anecdotal evidence proving Abeego’s effectiveness over airtight wrap, combined with the science behind how fresh food naturally behaves once it has been picked, plucked and harvested, it’s clear there’s an undeniable link between fresh food and breathable food storage.
We like to put it to people simply: What would happen if I wrapped you head to toe in plastic wrap? This rhetorical question applies to food because, like us, it’s alive!
Join us in our Test Kitchen as we prove Abeego extends the life of fresh food:
Cauliflower - Abeego vs Unwrapped
Lemons - Abeego vs Plastic
Cucumber - Abeego vs Unwrapped
Leafy Greens - Abeego vs Unwrapped
Take the avocado challenge! Cut a ripe avocado in half. Eat one, and wrap the other with the pit in.
THE ESSENTIALS
This bundle includes 6 wraps in 6 sizes, so you can save everything from a cut avocado to covering an entire leftover casserole. Unwrap the freshest food every day, promise.
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Toni was a holistic nutritionist who was obsessed with nose-to-tail and root-to-stem eating when she started Abeego. The principle of valuing all parts of the resource spilled over into Abeego and she knew she needed to give every shred the value it deserved. With a little bit of creativity, some time spent in the garden, and a love for fire & food, we drew a connection between our food wrap production scraps and a whole new, truly mesmerizing product. It didn’t happen overnight and it evolved through many iterations.
The Abeego Twist was the first unofficial spin-off product we launched in 2017. Long strands, less than a centimeter wide, were twisted into sticks. Customers were encouraged to use them for a garden tie or a firestarter. This multi-purpose tool was our first step toward becoming a circular manufacturer and only got us part of the way there as they used only one type of waste. We weren’t sure if they were going to catch, so we launched them package-free, giving them away as a gift with purchase to test the market.
Today, it’s common for beeswax wrap companies to sell scraps and waste as firestarters and we beam with pride knowing our original Twists sparked these circular manufacturing initiatives.
We knew we had something of value when customers began to ask where they could purchase The Twists. We realized we weren’t dealing with waste but a product that could grow our business! Before we could go to market, we needed to revisit their product design - all the way from the product itself, packaging, and how it’ll ship and catch your eye on the store shelf.
To test the market, we completed our first iteration of packaging. You might remember seeing these at One of a Kind Show and Circle Craft during the holiday season, grabbing one online, and even seeing them in-store. What we heard most from customers was that they were without a doubt, the absolute best Fire Starter.
After receiving customer feedback & evaluating how we operationally made the Twists, we realized we didn’t actually need to twist the trims for them to be useful as a Fire Starter, saving us an extra step in the production process. If you’re in production & manufacturing, you’ll know that operational efficiency is key! On the customer side, there was confusion around the product name “Abeego Twist”. While we like to come up with creative names, we knew our customers needed something more self-explanatory.
The Abeego Twist quickly became the Abeego Fire Starter. The product spoke for itself! Customers received these at shows and online and understood what was given to them.
From camping to cottages, Abeego Fire Starters were our top stocking stuffer during the holiday season and a big seller during the summer. Everything was moving along but there was only one problem. We weren’t using our waste fast enough, and not all types of waste. We were stuck. Our rock and a hard place were quantity and consumer demand.
Over the course of all this, we’d been prototyping, Solstice Balls. Inspired by the change of the seasons and the mesmerizing nature of fire, we lit these during Summer and Winter Solstice to reflect & set intentions for the coming season. About the size of a cannonball, these tightly packed balls of trims were fun and used a lot of waste, but were heavy and awkward. Not something we could easily package and ship, or even explain well. They never became available to buy and the Solstice Ball simmered on the back burner of our minds.
At some point, we saw portable campfires in a tin for sale and it dawned on us that all the Solstice Ball needed was essentially a tin and some additional wax to make our original zero-waste dreams come true. You could say it was serendipity. We checked off a lofty B Corp goal, achieved zero-waste production, and turned our magical Solstice Ball into a product that everyone could understand and enjoy. Meet Abeego Mini Campfire.
Backyards to beaches, balconies to backcountry, the instant and portable Abeego Mini Campfire elevates moments to memories. Brighten everyday outdoor occasions with a small, captivating fire that lights quickly and extinguishes instantly. Burning for 3 hours, ignite a family-friendly activity at the strike of a match! Did someone say instant s’mores?
The goal to become zero waste didn’t happen overnight and ignited an entire line of new products. We set out to prove that a manufacturing business can be a circular business. With a spark of creativity and obsession for design, each product iteration built on the success of the former to achieve our zero waste goal.
We’re never short of ideas at Abeego. It is a process that never stops and somewhere in the dark recesses of our minds the next innovation or iteration to make something new, different, and better the world is just a spark away.
]]>Airtight fresh food storage is not right. In fact, it’s dead wrong. No matter the material, plastic or otherwise, fresh living food will spoil, rot, and putrefy in an airtight environment. We’ve all witnessed fresh food succumbing to its airtight environment and what’s even worse is we accept it as a normal outcome and that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Our blind acceptance of airtight food storage, brought to you by big plastic in the 1950s, is directly responsible for mountains of food waste and indirectly responsible for our embarrassingly low expectations for the life of food.
I invented Abeego beeswax wrap as a bright-eyed, young holistic nutritionist who was seeking optimal nutrition. I understood my lemons, grapes, greens, cheese, and all other produce was alive, with their nutrient content indicating their life force. The richer the flavor, the brighter the scent, and the crisper the texture were all signs that the life of my food was enriching my own. My gut said plastic had no business wrapping my living produce. I had a hunch it was negatively affecting my fresh food and ultimately my health, and oh boy was I ever right.
Observing fresh food for more than a decade in a breathable environment vs an airtight one has proven my hunch right but the airtight plastic problem goes deeper than the 27-year-old me could have imagined.
The short story? Airtight plastic kills living food. The long story? A breathable environment supports the life of food making it behave in ways you may have never expected. Sixteen years later, I’m here to tell you there’s more life in your fresh food than you think.
Abeego has provided living proof of my hypothesis: food is alive, and it needs to be protected in a breathable environment.
Rotting, spoiling, and putrefying fresh food aren’t food problems at all. They’re airtight plastic problems. So how did it get so f***ed up? It only took 60 years, a couple billion dollars, and a truly misguided brand promise: Lock and seal in freshness with airtight plastic wrap.
Follow along as we discredit plastic wrap's airtight promise, debunk the hacks & gimmicks that have come since, and prove that food is truly alive.
]]>Cucumbers are veggies that frequently come pre-wrapped in plastic at the grocery store or farmer’s market *cringe*. Plastic may be one of the worst ways to savor cucumbers. Our advice? Rescue it from the airtight & suffocating environment and wrap it in Abeego for crying out loud! They’ll stay crisp & refreshing for what feels like forever.
Our Method
We took the two ends of an English cucumber AND a Field cucumber, weighed them, wrapped one entirely in Abeego, and left the other naked. We then put them in the crisper drawer of the fridge for two whole weeks.
Our Results
On average, the naked cucumbers lost more than 5x the amount of weight than the Abeego-wrapped cucumbers, which were still firm, dense, and looked like the end had just been sliced.
The naked cucumbers were shrivelled and dry. Especially apparent on the English cucumber, notice how the sliced ends closed in on themselves? The poor cukes were trying to save their own life!
In an entirely different and accidental experiment, Abeego Founder, Toni Desrosiers, noted the difference between cucumber wrapped in Abeego (the top cuke) versus cucumber wrapped in airtight plastic (the bottom cuke). The plastic caused the cucumber to sweat, build up excess moisture, and turn into squishy spoiling mush.
Our Why
Abeego picks up where the peels leaves off. Without protection, cut cucumbers lose moisture rapidly, including their nutrients. When trapped in airtight plastic wrap or a plastic bag, cucumbers sweat and become slimy, moldy, and mushy. In Abeego, cucumbers are able to release their oxidizing gases (breathe) while still being protected from air, light & moisture.
Ditch the paper towel or the airtight container full of cold water. Cucumbers thrive when stored in an environment that mimics their own skin. While their forest-green peel is hearty, they benefit immensely from an extra layer of protection from Abeego. Bonus: it's oh so easy.
Reach for your Large or Medium Abeego and wrap the whole cuke.
Bunch of minis? Fold your Large Recangle into a bag and keep them crisp & contained!
Sliced and diced? Wrap directly in Abeego or place in a bowl and cover.
Only the end sliced off? Reach for your Small Abeego and cover only the cut surface. Trust us; it won’t even notice it’s been cut!
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I don’t say it enough and most people think beeswax food wrap has always been, but that’s simply not true. It's undisputed humans have coated cloth for many purposes throughout history but when it comes to beeswax wrap with its malleable, tacky, waxy qualities for the primary application of fresh food storage, Abeego was in a league of its own.
Contrary to what some believe, beeswax wrap wasn’t found in a tomb during an archaeological dig unearthing a kitchen, at least, not yet anyway. While inspired by museum exhibits and personal accounts of how fresh food was stored, I took most of my inspiration from plastic wrap. Growing up with “clingy” plastic wrap, I set out to recreate that feature as closely as possible while only using natural ingredients.
When I tell people I invented it but didn’t patent, they usually fall into two categories. One, they think I’m lying, and two, they think I’m an idiot.
I can’t convince some that I’m telling the truth but once I explain why I choose not to patent it even the nastiest skeptics can wrap their heads around it.
Toni Desrosiers with her partner Colin at her first craft market in 2008.
Initially, I explored patenting beeswax wrap. I met with experts and we weighed the pros and cons. I’ll never forget the look on one patent lawyer’s face, when he said, “This is a stupid idea, my wife would never buy it and no one else will either.” As hurtful as that was, he wasn’t totally wrong considering it was 2008. Plastic was entrenched so deeply in people's lives and minds that the idea of a plastic alternative seemed unnecessary.
My second most memorable interaction with a patent lawyer went like this, “You’ll never be able to protect this. You’re making it in your kitchen and so can anyone else. You’ll drown in cease and desist fees. Besides, one day Big Plastic will squash it.” He wasn’t totally wrong either. Judging by the countless searches for DIY beeswax wrap, the home kitchen is the most common place to make beeswax wrap!
Shortly afterward, I showed my invention to my peers in herb class. They said, “OMG, this is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.” I sold twenty on the spot and decided not to pursue a patent on beeswax wrap and launch it even if I couldn’t own it.
I didn’t want to blow my cash owning an idea - I wanted to sell it!
Shark Tank, Dragons Den, and other flashy investment shows have led the general public to believe a patent is the holy grail of all business documents. For certain products, it can be but sometimes having one can do more harm than good. Did you know there’s no “Patent Police”? Protecting a patent is 100% on the owner of the patent and it’s expensive! I started Abeego with $1200, a credit card and not a lot of support for an idea that had yet to blossom in people's minds. I decided to turn my attention to where my heart was, growing the best damn beeswax wrap company possible.
I wanted to build trust and trust can’t be built on secrets.
Opting out of a patent meant I could have kept my ingredients a trade secret! At first I tried to keep them secret but it just didn’t sit right with me or my customers. Beeswax wrap was a new idea. People didn’t understand it and they didn’t 100% trust the 27 year old holistic nutritionist with “secret ingredient” food wraps, especially since plastic had just been outed for using BPA in their products. I decided to take the lead and offer product transparency. I believe you deserve to know what’s touching your food so I published my full ingredient list in 2009. It’s found on our packaging, website, and anywhere else our brand lives. Our formula has been the inspiration for millions of beeswax wraps and what’s better?—no hidden ingredients, no matter the brand! By adopting product transparency and leading the way, everyone else has followed suit.
I didn’t have a billion dollar budget and quickly learned my competitors' marketing dollars were my marketing dollars.
There was no question, my invention was going to turn the food storage industry upside down. A lone gal with one megaphone could never convince the world that the institution of plastic wrap was wrong and it had run its course. You have to remember in 2008 almost no one was talking about plastic and the impact it had on our food, health and planet. At the time, challenging plastic wrap was laughable and people literally laughed in my face at my expense! Not patenting beeswax wrap was a willful, conscious decision and in the end a damn smart one too. It turns out, more lone folks with megaphones bring relatively unknown ideas to the surface. All of a sudden more brands were selling it, talking about it and their marketing dollars became my marketing dollars. Abeego grew exponentially as a result.
Honestly, no. I think the way things turn out is the way they turn out. You can only move forward and apply the lessons you’ve learned to the next thing. Does that mean I don’t have regrets? Nope. I have two huge regrets.
No Gold Standard for beeswax wrap means customers suffer.
I wish I would have set the Gold Standard for beeswax wrap in 2008. I always knew I’d inspire others and while some wraps are pretty decent, I never really anticipated how bad some of them would be! The main issue is that no one really understands what they are trying to make and customers don’t really understand what they should be looking for. As a result, beeswax wrap is too sticky, too thin, too stiff, too thick, and too smelly. They crack, crumble, peel or wear out in a few washes. In the end, the customer suffers and it reduces the whole category to a gimmick and that breaks my heart.
Female inventors are overlooked and it sucks to be a statistic.
Female inventors have historically been overlooked (Hedy Lamarr or Mary Anderson, anyone?) but it’s my fault no one knows I’m the inventor of beeswax wrap. I was quiet when other brands claimed to rift on oilcloth or find it in king tut’s tomb after they bought Abeego or in some cases met with me personally. I was meek when customers ignored me and instead asked my husband how he came up with the idea. I smiled and didn't correct the interviewers when they refused to credit me as the inventor. I sat back while the world changing idea I invented slipped away.
Calling my new food wrap “beeswax wrap”
My third, and biggest regret is describing Abeego as “beeswax wrap”. Here’s how I wish Abeego would have become known: Abeego Wrap Keeps Fresh Food Alive. It protects and breathes to extend the life of fresh food longer than ever thanks to the revolutionary all natural, antibacterial, moldable, self adhesive material. It just happens that one of the ingredients is beeswax.
When I took Abeego to market I would introduce Abeego Wrap but having never seen anything like it, customers would quickly fixate on what it was made of. Before I could say Abeego, the customer coined it as beeswax food wrap. I’d correct them as often as I could but the customer had spoken, Abeego was a beeswax food wrap so as much as it pained me even I started calling it beeswax wrap. When other brands started making their version of Abeego, “beeswax wrap” became the blanket term for the category and the rest is history.
Today, beeswax wrap doesn’t mean much more than someone melted beeswax onto fabric and wrapped food with it. It’s easy to think Abeego Wrap wasn’t a true innovation and that beeswax food wrap has always been. It’s especially frustrating because without a gold standard for the category, beeswax wraps is getting a bad rap and Abeego Wrap gets lumped in with the duds.
Hindsight is 20/20, and while I do have a few regrets, I am proud that my invention has inspired a movement for change, challenged the food storage industry, and given space for us to reconnect to our fresh, living food.
My advice to any woman is if you’ve got an idea you believe in, be loud and aggressive early, patent or not, because 15 years later, it’s a heck of a lot harder to convince people you're the inventor.
Maybe one day I’ll be recognized for inventing beeswax wrap, even a mention on Wikipedia would be nice! In the meantime, I’m focused on being the Mother of Beeswax Wrap because the concept is too important to end up being another gimmick that’s forgotten about the next time Big Plastic comes out with a new product and a billion dollars to advertise it. For now, I rest easy knowing it spans the globe, I’m the Mother of it all and Abeego is the original beeswax wrap.
On a mission to Keep Food Alive, Abeego is rewriting the story on fresh food preservation. Hellbent on debunking the "airtight" myth, Abeego offers food wrap that protects and breathes, mimicking nature's peel to keep fresh food for what feels like forever. Abeego is B Corp Certified, proudly made in Canada and uses pure Canadian beeswax to make Canada's leading beeswax wrap.
Earning a B Corp certification is a difficult milestone, but all things worth doing are! But being certified is only the beginning. You can’t rest on your laurels because B Corps are required to re-certify every three years and standards continuously evolve. A pass in 2021 is no longer good enough in 2024 which pushes B Corps to strive to do better and earn an even higher score.
Certified in 2021, Abeego passed with an assessment score of 82 out of 250+ possible points so we set out to make some major gains when we re-certify in 2024. Since starting the company in 2008, Toni Desrosiers, wanted Abeego to be a 100% zero-waste manufacturing process and achieve circular manufacturing. We set our focus on this goal and achieved it two years early!
Toni believes you need to think about your waste before you’re holding it in your hands, you need to think about it before it’s even created. Here’s her 3 Step Plan to ensure not a sliver of Abeego ever ends up in the landfill again:
Abeego Wrap sizes are no fluke, they were intentionally arranged to fully utilize a bolt of fabric while making the most versatile sizes to fit as many foods and dishes in their category as possible. Toni adopts a top-down-bottom-up design approach to minimize waste at production while offering the ultimate customer experience. This initial strategy meant less than 1% of raw fabric is lost on the cutting floor! Today most beeswax wraps adopt a pretty similar size strategy and it makes us proud to know they’re likely minimizing raw material waste as a result.
Despite our best efforts, no production process comes without waste so we immediately identified it as a resource putting systems in place to count it as such. This mindset forced us to figure out ways to give the new resource a purpose. In 2010, we launched our Firestarters. They work like a hot damn but sadly they’d never make us 100% zero waste. Why? Well, they only used offcuts created during cutting, a fairly uniform part of our waste. If we wanted to hit our curricular manufacturing goal we needed to work smarter.
Ideas can come slow, simmering away on the back burner for years. Abeego has been used to light fires forever, remember our Abeego Twist and Solstice Ball? Inspired by other portable Campfires, Toni made the link between our love of fire & food and how to incorporate every shred of Abeego, no matter the size or shape into one irresistible product. This little can of fire achieved our 100% zero waste production goal in 2022, two years before the deadline!
Backyards to beaches, balconies to backcountry, the instant, and portable Abeego Mini Campfire elevates moments to memories. Brighten everyday outdoor occasions with a small, captivating fire that lights quickly and extinguishes instantly.
Now we’re tackling our next B Corp goal because the hunger to do more good is insatiable. We’re focusing on our most valuable resource, our people. We’re working on reframing full-time work—32-hour work week anyone!?
B Corp certification is given to businesses meeting the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability, balancing profit and purpose. B Corps must meet rigorous requirements complying with a set of legal responsibilities that are verified independently. B Corps use business as a force for good, creating benefits for all stakeholders, not just shareholders.
Circular manufacturing aims to reduce and eliminate scraps through the reuse of materials and resources. Based on the circular economy, where resources are kept and excess is minimized by reusing, recycling, or upcycling materials, creating a closed-loop system where materials are continually reused and recycled. It's become an important part of sustainable business by reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and reducing environmental impact. Abeego set out to be a zero-waste company from day one and adopted a circular manufacturing mindset before we started producing beeswax wrap.
Frustrated by plastic wrap for the last time, Toni Desrosiers took matters into her own hands and invented beeswax food wrap in 2008, disrupting the billion dollar plastic wrap industry and sparking the world wide trend for beeswax wrap. On a mission to Keep Food Alive, Abeego is rewriting the story on fresh food preservation. Hellbent on debunking the "airtight" myth, Abeego offers food wrap that protects and breathes, mimicking nature's peel to keep fresh food for what feels like forever.
Abeego is B Corp Certified, proudly made in Canada and uses pure Canadian beeswax to make Canada's leading breathable beeswax wrap.
]]>JUMP TO RECIPES:
We’ve teamed up with the duo at Conscious Cleanse - Jo and Jules - to chat all things smoothies. Whether you’re after breakfast smoothie recipes, smoothie recipes for kids, or simply looking to up your blended fruit game, we’ve provided Toni and Jo’s favorite waste-free smoothie recipes to help you run a zero-waste kitchen.
-2 Cups Cashew Milk
-1 Tbsp Chia Seeds
-3 Large Romaine Lettuce Leaves
-1 Cup Spinach
-Small handful of fresh Italian Parsley (flat-leaf) Parsley - stems and all!
-¼ Tsp Lemon Zest
-Juice of ½ Lemon (wrap the other half in Abeego for safekeeping)
-2 Cups Frozen Blueberries
Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
Enjoy this recipe and over 150 more in the new Conscious Cleanse Cookbook - the perfect companion to support you while cleansing or living the 80:20 lifestyle. Loaded with brand new recipes, kid- and family-friendly options, meal plans, and at-a-glance program guidelines, The Conscious Cleanse Cookbook will inspire you to get in the kitchen and cook!
-2 Cups your choice of milk
-1 Tbsp Hemp Hearts or Chia Seeds
-1 Cup Kale
-Small Handful of Mint Leaves - stems and all!
-1 Cup Frozen Strawberries - tops and all!
-½ Banana (usually the half my daughter who is notorious for eating only halves or quarters)
Combine all ingredients in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
Climbing aboard the smoothie train means purchasing heaps of greens and fruits on a weekly basis. With Abeego food wrap, you can enjoy the same freshness of your precious smoothie ingredients on Friday as you did on Monday.
Find your valentine a sweet gift that lasts longer than flowers and extends the life of their food to the very last bite.
What do you get someone who owns all the kitchen essentials? Abeego. If food is their love language, then the Variety is the perfect pairing.
Cooking for one is tough! One person doesn’t typically consume an entire onion, pepper, avocado, or lemon in one sitting. Help them extend the life of their groceries with the 5-pack small wrap. You’ll always be their favorite valentine.
Their one true love, cheese. Abeego wraps protect & breathe, providing the ideal environment for cheese to thrive. Give the gift of freshly aged cheese for what feels like forever. Shop medium pack.
From fresh spinach & kale, to red leaf & romaine, they can’t live without fresh greens in their fridge. Easily wrap them in Abeego large beeswax wraps to keep them alive longer than ever expected. With every crunch, they’ll think of you.
You’ll find them outside, basking in nature. From taking a cold dip to reaching the highest peaks, adventure speaks to their soul. Light their fire with a Mini Campfire, the portable & instant campfire to brighten any occasion.
If food is their love language, give them the gift of Abeego beeswax food wrap. It protects & breathes, mimicking nature's peel to keep fresh food for longer than ever imagined. Shop our best sellers.
]]>The last two years left me worn out, burned out, and drowning in lofty goals left me deflated. So I decided to set my goals in bite-sized pieces, micro-dosing them into my day and allowing myself to feel the success I deserved. We define a Micro-Goal as a small action taken regularly. It's biting off what we can chew, softening hard lines, and relishing micro-improvements. It’s only when you look back do you recognize how impactful it has been because little things add up. That’s how big changes happen.
The Micro-Goal is our favorite soon-to-trend.
What micro-goals are on your list this year?
We’re forgoing lofty resolutions like “go 100% plant-based” or “exercise 5 days a week” and opting for incremental improvements, like adding more produce to your meals each day. That could be adding an apple to your work lunch, or sneaking in a side salad at dinner. By doing just a little bit extra, we can check that box, satisfied we’re working towards our goals. From half a pepper to covering an entire salad, incorporate the Variety Wrap into your routine to extend the life of your fresh produce.
Because Marie Kondo is 100% right. Being positive and uplifted by the small things around us matters. From treating yourself to an ice cream & walk, or thrifting a new-to-you sweater to get cozy, let’s celebrate the small moments in between, slowing down from the frenetic chaos we’ve been sold to live by.
Don’t underestimate the power of the Small Wrap. Small and mighty, it packs a punch well above its weight to save your food every single day. Wrapping and unwrapping half a lemon a day will become an anticipated joy in the kitchen.
Literally, and figuratively, my Micro-Goal for 2023 is to do physical things that seemed difficult, (but couldn’t kill me) in an effort to reset my nervous system. The outdoors and cold bathing called me.
My first cold dip left me breathless and panicked, and, guess what, I didn’t die. The second dip wasn’t easier, but still, I didn’t die. With each cold dip, I’ll be more resilient. Nature bathing isn’t limited to us cold dippers, it’s anyone soaking in the natural world in an effort to calm daily chaos.
Walks, swims, hikes, bike rides, meditating in the backyard, they all count. I recommend taking a Mini Campfire with you to slow down and bask in nature.
We predict 2023 will be the year of the Micro-Goal. Join the Micro-Goal conversation on Instagram and share yours.
Keep Food Alive,
Toni
]]>These enchanting folks can brew up compost cocktails, talk to their kale, and cast protective spells so their plant-children may thrive.
These ghoulish gourmands go to the ends of the earth to get genuine gouda to gobble with guests. Don’t get in their way of their beloved burrata, or you’ll bemoan it.
Don’t dare interrupt the artist when it’s bread baking time. There's an intricate process, recipe, and gut feeling to making bread so tread lightly into the kitchen because they love their bread knives.
These tinkerers are always in their lab cooking up some new frankenstein concoction, and looking for guinea pigs. You haven’t vomited yet, which boosts their confidence.
Stovetop to firepit, these aficionados can cook meat to their desired perfection and what to pair it with. Better skip dinner if they’re serving liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti.
We believe that every sustainable switch, no matter how small, makes a positive impact. By supporting eco-conscious brands like the ones below, you can help reduce your personal plastic consumption all year round.
DEW MIGHTY is pioneering slow beauty that focuses on high-impact results without plastic, water, and always striving for zero waste. Their formulas are tested for all skin types (even the most sensitive!) and are created to be multi-purpose, refillable, and travel compactly which makes them a favorite for a life filled with adventure.
Save 10% off starter kits and bundles with code: ELATEDPFJULY
Simple, effective, and refillable. Foster products are designed to foster a connection between our skin, the products we use, and the plants they come from. To work with our skin to nourish, protect and care - all while doing the same for our planet.
Get 20% off with code: plasticfreejuly
Elate thinks less is more, especially with 30% of all global waste accredited to cosmetics. Curating a capsule of beloved, refillable, and recyclable products not only saves you the energy and money of cluttering your cosmetics case with lipsticks you’ll never wear, it also saves landfills from unnecessary waste.
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Working with holistic dentists, scientists, and leading chemists, Terra & Co. developed a premium line of Ayurvedic-inspired oral care packaged thoughtfully with recyclable materials to reduce massive global waste.
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Nelson Naturals has been creating zero waste toothpaste for close to a decade (long before Zero Waste was a thing!) Their focus is on creating natural, non-toxic, refillable options for the whole family. Think Outside The Tube with Nelson Naturals.
Organic and biodegradable, joni is your better disposable period care that works for you and—with their period equity promise—your community. That's 21st-century period care. Available in stores, online, and via subscription
Use PLASTICFREE10 for 10% off your first purchase or PLASTICFREE50 for 50% off your first month.
KOOSHOO is a line of plant-based hair accessories born from the philosophy that business is a powerful way to share a message. Created as sustainable products that fill a need and empowering customers and workers without adding to the load that is weighing down the planet, the line has expanded to include Hair Ties, Scrunchies and Headbands sold around the world.
Save 20% on orders of $35+: GOPLASTICFREE
Coconut Matter was born out of a mother’s desire to create safe and effective products for her daughter. Their handcrafted products range from natural deodorants to mosquito repellent - all of which are vegan, cruelty-free, and 100% single-use plastic-free.
Save 10% plus a free lip balm for first 100 customers!
WVN creates timeless and versatile wardrobe pieces for modern women using the highest Fair Trade and earth-friendly certifications in the industry. From seed to closet, they are plastic-free, even down to their packaging. Come for the company ethos, stay for the classic clothing you'll have for a long, long time.
ecologyst is more than an apparel brand. We tell stories of natural explorations and highlight the journey to living a more sustainable, intentional life. ecologyst makes clothing in North America using all-natural fibers and pays our people a family living wage. We believe in owning fewer, better quality pieces made from nature, for nature. To keep things circular, products are built to last and come with repairs for life.
Save 15% with code: PLASTICFREEJULY15 (excludes second life products)
ANIÁN is a circular fashion company based on the West Coast of Canada. By giving new life to salvaged natural textiles, we can create in ways that have a positive impact on our shared planet.
Save 20% with code: UPCYCLE (One time use per customer - not valid on sale items)
They believe that reducing plastic should be easy. Better Basics’ line of reusable containers, eco swaps and personal care refills help you say no to plastic and yes to a better experience. Their all-natural, vegan and cruelty-free ingredients are gentle on you + the planet.
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Seventh & Oak was created as an alternative to over-scented candles with artificial ingredients. Their eco-friendly wood wick candles are responsibly made for discerning noses to comfort, soothe and inspire.
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Hey that's us! Go plastic-free in the kitchen this July with Abeego beeswax wrap. Keep cut fruits & veggies, cover jars & bowls, and extend the life of your food to the very last bite. Reusable, plastic-free, and lasts a year. You'll be saying goodbye to plastic faster than you can say avocado.
Get 20% off single wraps with code: PFJULY
These are some of the easiest and best swaps you can make to ditch single-use disposables. Cheeks Ahoy products not only help protect the environment, they will also save money, not to mention they function way better than the disposable items they replace.
PFJ20 (for 20% off everything site-wide, valid from July 1-31.)
Good Juju offers plastic-free, high-performance body & home care products, made with all-natural & certified-organic ingredients. Their award-winning concentrated solid shampoo & conditioner bars leave hair feeling healthy, shiny, and nourished. It’s Zero Waste with Zero Compromise!
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Zero Waste MVMT is an earth-first brand with a mission to create a waste-free future. With a wide range of convenient and sustainable swaps from kitchen to personal care products, reducing waste in your home and helping the environment has never been easier! Check out their best-selling shampoo bars and solid dish soap bars and save 15% with code "PFJ15" during the month of July.
Discount Codes are valid for the month of July.
]]>Do we really know the flavor of fresh rhubarb? Toni, Abeego founder, doesn’t think so.
Rhubarb was the first food Toni tested when she invented Abeego over a decade ago. The difference in taste between rhubarb saved in Abeego compared to rhubarb in plastic was mind blowing.
“That’s when I realized I didn’t fully know what food tasted like. We’re used to food tasting a certain way because of the food storage techniques we’ve been taught. This was the beginning of my journey into understanding flavor in relation to the method we use to keep food." - Toni Desrosiers
Perhaps you’ve learned rhubarb storage tricks that involve blanching, a jar of cold water (that’s just asking to be knocked over in the fridge), or a swaddle of wet paper towels.
For stalk’s sake! We ask you to forget these inconsistent and tedious methods for good. With Abeego at your side, the effortless power to preserve rhubarb’s glorious, tongue-tingling zest and tangy crunch is in your hands. We can prove it!
In this blog post, learn:
Dig in!
Forget everything you know about how to keep rhubarb fresh and Keep Rhubarb Alive!
The best (and easiest) way to store rhubarb is (you guessed it) Abeego! Here’s why: Abeego gently and naturally hugs around rhubarb’s delicate skin and creates an environment that protects rhubarb from drying out as it breathes.
Through the process of respiration (breathing), rhubarb releases carbohydrates, proteins, and nutrients in the form of moisture. An Internet search will tell you the best way to store rhubarb is wrapped in a plastic bag, airtight container, or aluminum foil to keep it from drying out.
However, when moisture can’t escape, rhubarb suffocates and rots. The solution isn’t naked rhubarb, either! Thin skin and cut ends make rhubarb rapidly wither and lose nutrients when left in its birthday suit.
Abeego keeps rhubarb alive as it protects and breathes to retain the highest amount of nutrients and, as a result, crisp and juicy rhubarb with a powerful tart punch for days on end. Take care of your food and it will it take care of you!
When we say Abeego keeps rhubarb alive, it’s not a theory! We put Abeego to the test and **spoiler alert** the results were amazing. The best part? Keeping rhubarb alive is no magic trick. It’s simple and the power is yours!
After weighing two separate bunches of freshly harvested garden rhubarb, we wrapped one in Abeego and left the other bare. We stored both bunches in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator for 4 days before weighing them again. We then put them back for another 19 days and weighed them again.
After 4 days, Abeego-wrapped rhubarb had less than 1% moisture loss versus naked rhubarb with 3% moisture loss.
After 19 days, Abeego-wrapped rhubarb had 2% moisture loss versus naked rhubarb with 14% moisture loss.
Rhubarb wrapped in Abeego retained nearly 7X more of its natural moisture than rhubarb left bare! **mic drop**
Now that you know how to store rhubarb with Abeego, you can extend its shelf life for what feels like forever.
Abeego protects rhubarb from drying out yet allows excess moisture to escape. Rhubarb’s natural decomposition process slows down in Abeego and keeps it alive. The result is a kitchen tool for your home that actually works to keep your rhubarb crisp, juicy, and flavorful for longer than ever imagined!
(If you must know, the naked rhubarb became rubbery, sinewy, completely hollow in parts and, quite frankly, gross.)
Whole stalks? Abeego is your kitchen tool that actually works to keep rhubarb alive. Take your delicious and nutritious rhubarb and roll up the large stalks in a Large Rectangle Abeego.
Cut rhubarb? Make a bag out of the Medium Rectangle Abeego and pop in the fridge.
Abeego tip: Freezing rhubarb? Ditch those freezer bags and line your baking sheet with a Large Rectangle Abeego. Spread a single layer of 1-inch pieces of chopped rhubarb on top. Once frozen, rhubarb pieces can be easily plucked off and transferred to a jar.
Were you the type of kid to pull a bite of rhubarb plant directly from the garden for that instant mouth-puckering hit? The original ‘sour candy!’ Relive the magic with Abeego.
We promise that not only will you save rhubarb for longer, you’ll preserve all the vibrancy of its flavor and nutrients so it’s worth it to source the best rhubarb. If you (or a neighbour/relative/best friend) don’t grow your own rhubarb, try market stalls, farmers’ markets, and garden markets that sell produce directly from the farm and in many cases, rhubarb picked that same day!
Look for these signs and you’re sure to select the best rhubarb:
Keep it snappy! Rhubarb loses moisture as soon as it’s cut so get it into Abeego ASAP.
Abeego tip: pack Abeego with you to the market and wrap up rhubarb on the go. You’ll save time when you get it home and reduce packaging waste.
Now that you can Keep Rhubarb Alive for longer and easier than imagined, eat it up with these simple rhubarb recipes! Level up any rhubarb dish with a simple twist such as adding mint, lavender, or lemon thyme for layers of flavor. (High in oxalic acid, remember to never eat rhubarb leaves.)
Rhubarb makes a great gift on its own or transformed into a treat. We love sharing beautiful, long stalks of rhubarb enrobed in a Giant Abeego or gifting a handcrafted bottle of simple syrup with the Variety. It feels great to give with purpose and share your values at the same time.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
Get your Abeego on! Enjoy these other posts:
While it’s not hard to gobble an apple in one sitting, there are times when we need to know how to keep a cut apple fresh. For example, perhaps your kiddo has an affinity to eat only a quarter of an apple, or you portion one out to feed your pup each day, or you’re prepping a sliced apple snack for tomorrow’s lunch.
Not all of us are equipped with a root cellar or have the time to spritz every sliced apple with lemon juice.
We want to help ensure your apple doesn’t even notice it's been sliced, so we introduced them to the Abeego Test Kitchen. We wrapped one half in a Small Square Abeego and left one-half naked. Both were stored in the fridge.
With Abeego, apple storage is easy. Dig in!
After one week, we took a peek at the Abeego-wrapped apple and sliced off a thin layer to see how the flesh looked.
Still vibrant! So we wrapped it back up.
For three. More. Weeks.
The apple on the left was wrapped in Abeego for four weeks, and the apple on the right was left naked for four weeks.
Yeesh, check out that squish factor! It’s shrivelled, noticeably smaller, and lost ~37% of its weight in moisture.
Still firm, plump, and lost less than 10% of its weight in moisture. Notice how the surface of the apple has started to brown and dry slightly? It’s creating a new seal to protect itself!
Now, let’s slice into it and see what’s underneath.
Voila! Bright, juicy, goodness! That’s right, after 28 days. Watch the entire 4-week process here.
How about them apples?
Long story short, the best way to store apples is with Abeego:
Apples are alive and need to breathe.
Their own skin (red, green, or tie-died with yellow) is protective, breathable, and opaque, keeping its insides juicy and crisp. Once sliced, the apple’s exposed flesh is no longer protected. Moisture rapidly escapes resulting in a shrivelled & squishy fruit.
Wrapped in an airtight & transparent material like plastic, the ethylene gas that apples (and all fresh foods) release as they ripen becomes trapped and suffocate the apple in a wet and slimy environment. Rapid spoilage ensues.
Putting Abeego against the sliced side of the apple is like slapping on an extra apple peel. Protective and breathable, Abeego offers the perfect environment to extend the life of these doctor-ridding fruits.
In the fall of 2019 amidst the peak of apple season, the Abeego team went apple picking and filled cardboard boxes with 262.2 pounds of apples from the prolific apple trees of our generous friends and Salt Spring Island Candles.
What to do with such bushels, you ask? In our eyes, there’s no such thing as one bad apple. We had no problem putting each one to use.
Here’s how we enjoyed our heaping boxes of Spartans and Red Delicious apples for an entire year:
Who knew apples could be delicious in so many ways? We encourage you to widen your repertoire of apple varieties and explore the succulent nuances between each one.
Depending on the type of apple, home cooking will look different! Let’s take applesauce, for example. Love the sweetness? Try Fuji. Prefer a sharper taste? McIntosh are your tart apples.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
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- Toni Desrosiers—Abeego Founder & Inventor of Beeswax food Wrap
One of our core values is to Do Good & Do Better. We’ve done a lot of good in the past 14 years, helping kitchens everywhere keep fresh food for what feels like forever and forge a deeper connection with what’s on their plate, at their market, and in their garden. Now, we’re here to do better.
Today marks the first day of a brand new Abeego, here to make saving food more accessible, versatile, and functional than ever before. We’re thrilled to share these new updates with you: our most favorite people.
Let’s dig in.
You asked—we listened. Introducing: Abeego rectangles! Available in three sizes and offering unmatched versatility, you can seamlessly transition from wrap to bag to wrap again with a few simple folds.
SMALL RECTANGLE: Protect green onions, fragrant lemongrass, and fold into a beeswax wrap bag for bundles of berries.
MEDIUM RECTANGLE: Preserve asparagus, cover a charcuterie board, and fold into a beeswax wrap bag for piles of peaches.
LARGE RECTANGLE: (Formerly known as the 'Giant') Save bread, cover casserole dishes, and fold into a beeswax wrap bag for tons of tomatoes.
We weren’t satisfied with a product doing just one thing, so, like all Abeego, it does everything.
What’s more? It’s seamless, so cleaning is an absolute breeze.
Single & ready to mingle, each size now comes Individually packaged. Easily customize your collection to meet your kitchen’s unique food-saving needs.
New to beeswax wrap? Starting at just $3.99, you can test & trial a single wrap and measure the impact it has on your kitchen before taking the plunge with a full set (trust us, the water is lovely).
Each hue of our bright array of new colors is pulled directly from the beautiful pantone of food in our natural world.
What’s more? They’re made with FSC-Certified paper and use 40% less packaging than before.
Still love to purchase in packs? Fear not! Our known and loved packs (like our all-time fan favorite Variety Set) are still here and they have new packaging, too!
Whew, that’s a lot of changes. There’s one thing, however, that hasn’t changed: the Abeego quality. It’s the same kickass and beloved formula that keeps avocados green for days, lettuce crisp for weeks, and bread fresh for what feels like forever.
Abeego saves like no other. And that, friends, will never change.
We can’t wait for you to experience the new food-saving opportunities we’re bringing to the table.
Welcome to the new Abeego.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
Mushy bean sprouts have lost their meaning in life, and so often end up in the compost bin. Not any more.
Bean sprouts are alive and they need to breathe. Airtight containers (like plastic bags) trap excess moisture that leads to slime. Yet without protection, they quickly wither and wilt. To keep bean sprouts fresh, they need a protective environment that releases excess moisture. That’s where Abeego reusable food wrap steps in.
Simply wrap up towel-dried bean sprouts in Abeego. There’s no need to add a paper towel, soak in ice water, practice blanching, or any other trick to extend the shelf life of bean sprouts. Abeego easily and naturally keeps your bean sprouts crisp, fresh, and alive so you can enjoy them to their very last juicy snap.
How long do bean sprouts last, you may ask? Well, with Abeego, for what feels like forever.
Keep reading and:
In the spirit of discovery and to deepen our collective understanding of how food behaves, we used our Abeego Test Kitchen to to experiment with bean sprout storage methods.
Bean sprouts stored in a bowl covered with Abeego retained 8x more moisture than bean sprouts stored in a mesh/cloth bag, and 4x more than bean sprouts stored in an uncovered bowl.
Bean sprouts that were loosely wrapped in Abeego resulted in similar numbers to the covered bowl and appeared the most firm and crisp.
Without protection, either in a bowl or mesh bag, the bean sprouts quickly withered.
Bean sprouts are alive and need to breathe. Each testing method allowed for that as we already know airtight plastic containers trap bean sprouts with excess water and cause serious slime (sometimes in less than a day!). Abeego wrap acts like a peel and naturally protects while it breathes. The result is longer living bean sprouts!
Towel dry bean sprouts, place in a Large Abeego and loosely roll up the sprouts inside, scrunching the ends to seal. Alternatively, fold and seal the edges to make a parcel or a packet, or place in a bowl and cover and press.
For more wrap inspiration, check out our Abeego YouTube channel.
Bean sprouts are the shrinking violet of the vegetable world. Delicate and quick to wilt, it can be difficult to find fresh sprouts.
Bean sprouts are easy to sprout at home and will be the freshest you’ll get! Grocery store sprouts in an airtight bag are at high risk for wilt and slime and are best avoided. Visit Asian markets for sprouts in bulk and choose how much or how little sprouts you’d like. They’re most often locally grown and fresh.
The freshest bean sprouts are firm and have a sharp snap when bent. Browning is a sign of oxidation and means they’re past their prime. If they’re slimy, they’re on their way out so avoid these ones. If your sprouts are brown or slimy at home, don’t fret—put them in a colander and rinse in freezing cold water to clean and perk ‘em up.
Amazing crunchiness aside, do bean sprouts actually add nutrition & health benefits? Yes, according to this Chatelaine article, these veggies are bursting with fibre, choline, vitamin C & K, and potassium.
We love bean sprouts in our Founder’s favorite pho recipe designed to boost your immune system and can attest to our Marketing Manager’s salad rolls. They level up the freshness of any dish.
Abeego Tip: A quintessential stir fry ingredient, think outside the wok and throw sprouts into an avocado and cilantro sandwich or add to this savory and sweet sandwich for a taste of summer. Or try bean sprouts in place of noodles in your favorite pasta dish. Pad Thai, salads, soups, omelettes have our mouths watering.
We may not always like to admit it, but mom knows a thing or two! Make sure to tap into her experience in the kitchen like our Marketing Manager did with her mom when making salad rolls.
Food wisdom is a two-way street. The cross pollination of the tried and true with the new gets us to new heights. Look to tradition and add innovation all the while observing your food.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
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Okay, let’s get this straight. Plastic & food storage never belong in the same sentence.
Friend, we have a better way. Maybe you want to give up plastic. Maybe you want to keep your kale longer and save it from becoming waste. Well, you can have both.
You can store kale & extend its shelf life for far beyond 5-7 days, while retaining its vital nutrition to boot. Did you know your kale is alive, even after it’s picked? Like any other living thing, it breathes.
Through respiration, kale releases its nutrients in the form of moisture. In an airtight container, this excess moisture gets trapped and quickly leads to rot. Without protection, however, kale rapidly wilts, yellows and dies even faster.
Have you ever looked closely at a lemon peel? It’s opaque with pores to breathe. This protects its insides and allows its gasses to escape. Abeego was modeled to work like nature’s peel in this way, while using ingredients from nature too, as it happens!
Keep reading. We have results for you from our test kitchen where you can see the before and after kale photos between kale with Abeego and kale without. You won’t believe the difference after only 4 days!
PLUS we have some helpful tips for getting the freshest kale, our favorite kale recipes, and tips for saving kale from the compost and ending food waste—right in your own kitchen. You too can taste the victory and be a kale-saving hero!
Armed with Abeego, you have the power to save kale for longer than ever before. Look at what happened when we put Abeego to the test in our kitchen.
We weighed two separate bunches of purple raw kale and wrapped one bunch in Abeego and left the other bare. Then we stored the kale in the fridge’s crisper drawer.
After 4 days, we weighed the purple kale again. Below are the results. Can we hear a “kale yeah”?
Kale wrapped in Abeego (crispy & perky kale leaves on the left) retained 96% of its moisture vs kale without Abeego (floppy kale leaves on the right). That’s 31x more than kale left bare!
The best way to store kale? The answer is clear—Abeego.
There’s no trickery here. No smoke, no mirrors. Simply Abeego and the power of nature.
Kale is alive and, like any other living thing, it breathes, even after it’s picked. Through respiration, it lets off its carbohydrates and nutrients in the form of moisture.
Abeego, made from ingredients found in nature, acts like a peel in that it protects while being breathable. Kale’s moisture can escape (instead of building up like it does in airtight containers) while Abeego’s protective barrier keeps kale from drying out and wilting.
Keep your super food super!
When kale is protected and preserved in this way, it retains its nutrients, which is the main reason you’re eating this hearty green anyway, right?
Take care of your kale and it will take care of you!
For more wrap inspiration, check out the Abeego YouTube channel.
What should you look for to buy the best kale? While curly, crisp, moist, firm, and bright colors define fresh kale—we can’t stress this enough—use your senses! Which kale looks, smells, and feels the best to you? Kale with limp or yellowing leaves indicate it’s on its way out.
Well-regarded as a superfood, kale was considered merely a garnish a couple of decades ago, although it has been farmed for more than 2,000 years, evidence that kale is here to stay. While you’re likely familiar with curly or purple kale, have you tried lacinato, Russian, dinosaur, redbor, or white kale? Your local farmers’ market or specialty grocery store is the best place to find these and other heirloom kale varieties.
There’s no shortage of kale recipes on the internet: simple kale sautes, kale salads, kale chips, or stews.
No longer is kale relegated to a side dish. We love this leafy green’s hardiness and satisfying texture which lends itself as a meaty ingredient for recipes like these gluten-free, vegetarian stuffed mushrooms from A Full Living. We used kale, onions, garlic, olive oil, and parmesan and stuffed large Portebello mushrooms to turn this dish from an appetizer into a meal.
Abeego Tip: Whether it’s for mushrooms or other stuffings, take the opportunity to use up veggie bits and bobs from the fridge. Chop them up finely and add to the mix to enrich flavor and nutrition while eliminating food waste.
Kale is also a perfect ingredient for a good ol’ green smoothie. Abeego Founder, Toni Desrosiers, makes a mean zero-waste Strawberry Mint Smoothie with kale here.
Hold up on throwing the kale stem into your compost! Instead, try our Kale Stem Pesto recipe. There’s loads of nutrients in those stalks and it’s one more way to reduce food waste.
Gift for a foodie friend? Skip the flowers and go for the gastro with a bouquet of kale wrapped in Abeego.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
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So we asked Google, “How long do Brussels sprouts last?”
Their answer? 5 days.
We then asked YOU how long you expect Brussels sprouts to last in the fridge, and the average answer was about 6 days.
Yikes.
Fear not. You have not failed your food, your kitchen tools have failed you!
With Abeego as your kitchen pal, you can learn to keep fresh Brussels sprouts for what feels like forever. Dig in with us and learn the best way to store Brussels sprouts and keep them teeming with life.
To deepen our understanding of their life cycle, we saved Brussels sprouts in our Test Kitchen. We're sharing these results with you to help support food preservation in your own kitchen. Victory will be yours!
Keep unwashed and untrimmed Brussels sprouts in a cold and humid environment (avoid room temperature) and follow these three steps:
Keep reading to see what happened in our Abeego Test Kitchen, get tips to select the best Brussels sprouts, and check out our favorite Brussels sprouts recipes that use up every delectable leaf and keep you brusselin'.
During our Abeego Kitchen Test, we saved Brussels sprouts in the following ways:
We weighed each batch of Brussels sprouts and then again after four days to measure moisture loss. We also considered color, smell, and texture.
Because Brussels sprouts are alive and need to breathe, we didn't test any plastic bag or airtight container methods as we know this makes sprouts age in a quick, slimy, & yellowy fashion. Yuck.
Based on moisture retention and overall texture, Brussels sprouts stored in Abeego were the clear winner.
After 4 days, the outer leaves of the Brussels sprouts in the bowl and bag were both soft and wilted, whereas wrapped in Abeego, the leaves retained their crispness.
The Brussels sprouts wrapped in Abeego retained 99.14% of their moisture, which was 8X more than the mesh bag method and 9X more than an uncovered bowl.
It doesn’t stop there, Brussels sprouts will happily hang in Abeego for days longer while staying vibrant and flavorful. We encourage you to experiment at home! Wrap the 4 day sprouts back up and check on them again in 7 days. Then ten days. Notice how the right environment can extend the life of Brussels sprouts for what feels like forever!
Brussels sprouts are alive and need to breathe. Abeego wrap creates a protective barrier to combat the drying effects of the fridge, while also allowing sprouts to breathe—much in the same way peels and rinds found in nature do (visualize the pores on a lemon peel).
When creating Abeego as a better way to save food, our founder looked to the workings of nature. At home, the result is tastier & more nutritious produce with a longer shelf life. This saves you time and money while you feel good about ending food waste and reducing household plastics.
Here are our favorite ways to wrap sprouts with Abeego:
Get Brussels sprouts in Abeego whatever way is easiest for you. It’s all good.
For more wrap inspiration, check out our Abeego YouTube channel.
Try to source Brussels sprouts most recently harvested. In most cases, this means buying these veggies locally and in season from September to mid-February from a farmer’s market. However, grocery stores usually have them in stock year round. If you’re lucky, you’ll find them for sale still on the stalk!
Fresh Brussels sprouts are glorious in all manner of shapes and sizes. Sourced directly from farm to market results in a greater variety, from tiny sprout cherubs to enormous monster Brussels. Large supermarkets generally choose medium sprouts only; buying sizes outside of this helps to support farmers who can’t necessarily control the size of their sprouts, as explained in this wonderful Imperfect Foods article.
Choose uniform sizes if you plan to cook Brussels sprouts so they require the same time to cook. Small sprouts tend to be sweet whereas large sprouts offer robust flavor.
Whatever you choose, look for firm heads with tightly packed leaves. Yellow leaves and black spots are a sign that the Brussels sprouts are further along in their life cycle.
Once the underdog of the vegetable world relegated as a holiday side dish, Brussels sprouts are rightly taking center stage. Nutritious and delicious, they’re incredibly versatile and satisfying as a main dish.
Whole & Roasted: Spread them out on a baking sheet with olive oil and/or truffle oil and toss in the oven to enjoy roasted Brussels Sprouts. We love topping them off with fresh parmesan.
Shredded & in a Salad: We enjoyed a family-style lunch with our work family and made this Shredded Brussels and Arugula Salad recipe from Cookie and Kate complete with crumbled blue cheese and toasted pecans. Brussels sprouts can be shredded in advance and saved in Abeego to retain their freshly shredded flavor.
Fermented: Brussels sprouts nearing the end of their life? Not feeling like diving into the cooking process? Try Southern Kitchen’s Brusselskraut to preserve them for longer.
Lessen the load and eat with friends!
Get together with friends/family/coworkers for a shared potluck meal comprised of foods from home that need to be used up. Get creative and see what you can create in your homemade version of Chopped.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
]]>Do you crave camembert or pine for parmesan? With the history of cheese dating back 8,000 years across many cultures, it’s no wonder so many of us feel deeply connected to it. Not to mention it’s so delicious!
An important form of sustenance, for many millennia, cheese is life-giving because it’s alive—and it needs to breathe! Rescue your cheese from the grocery store’s original packaging (ahem, airtight plastic wrap) and swaddle it in Abeego. Like nature’s own peel and rind, Abeego breathes and protects to give fresh cheeses their best life.
Love cheese? Dig in! We’ll show you:
Say cheese, because you’ll be all smiles with Abeego.
Higher quality cheese comes with its own rind or wax that naturally protects and breathes. Cutting it breaks this protective barrier, making it susceptible to mold from its rind, and able to absorb surrounding flavors, both of which can affect taste. While all cheese loses moisture as it ages, lack of a rind can age it too quickly.
However, protecting cheese in airtight containers, a layer of plastic, or aluminum foil can cause bacterial growth. This bacteria builds and creates a stinky ammonia smell.
For the love of Gouda, SAVE THE CHEESE!
Keeping cheese is a balancing act. Have no fear. You have Abeego.
Abeego protects your precious mozzarella, blue cheese, or gruyere by mimicking a cheese rind to savor flavor and slow premature aging.
Any cheesemonger worth their weight in brie uses breathable cheese paper. Abeego is your reusable cheese paper that allows your cheese to breathe while it traps odors, wicks away excess moisture, and hinders its natural aging process.
Abeego gives you the power to save your cheese naturally because all of our ingredients are pure and unrefined.
Maybe you didn’t even know your cheese needed to be saved. That’s okay. You’re here now and we’re happy to show you how storing cheese (both hard and soft) is easy with Abeego!
Double wrap hard cheese in Large Abeego to slow down its natural moisture loss. Then, store it in a humid part of your fridge, such as the cheese or vegetable drawer, and crank up the humidity if you have the option.
Protect soft cheese in a Medium Abeego to hold its shape. Wrap goat cheese like a bonbon and cushion brie with firm and gentle folds.
Want to learn more cheese storage tips? Epicurious and Spruce Eats offer their tips for storing cheese. Simply insert Abeego for every mention of cheese paper!
Use a Medium Abeego to keep most cheese
Grab a Large Abeego to double wrap dry cheeses and cover a cheese plate
Reach for a Giant Abeego to drape over charcuterie platters before guests arrive
Are you used to keeping your cheese airtight? Be a cheese-saving champion and let it breathe new life with Abeego. Your cheese will live longer and have a more robust flavor and texture.
Other factors that affect the life and taste of your cheese include:
Cheese is one of the most popular foods our community loves to save in Abeego. Here are some common questions we see:
Hard cheese can be tricky because it has a lower moisture content and moisture loss is simply a part of cheese’s natural aging process. If you’re concerned about it drying too quickly, double wrap your hard cheese and keep in a humid section of your fridge. Color, texture and flavor change as cheese ages—like a fine wine! Dry cheese? Try it! We prefer to let our old cheddar age a bit longer for some extra bite!
If your cheese has mold, ensure anything that comes into contact with your cheese is clean to avoid contamination. Mold may also indicate too much humidity. Wrap it loosely in your Abeego to allow for more air. If you find your food in your fridge in general molds quickly, it’s time to spring clean the whole plastic box!
Even if you love a good stinky cheese, you may not want your whole fridge to smell like a cheese shop. Abeego keeps strong aromas under wraps even as the cheese breathes. However, keeping a very strong-smelling stilton can leave a trail on your Abeego. Washing it immediately after will minimize this, or some even keep a designated stilton Abeego.
If you find your cheese aging faster than it once did in your Abeego it might be time to refresh it. If the coating is threadbare, it becomes more breathable and protects less. If your Abeego is thin, floppy, and no longer holds its shape, we recommend adding to your collection and experiencing the magic of new Abeego all over again! On average with regular use, Abeego works its best for about a year.
Before you cut your hard cheese, consider this (prepare to have your mind blown): instead of slicing it from the same side every time, eat your way around the cheese.
Drying occurs on the outside, so eat your way in. This will create a stronger flavor profile, you genius foodie, you!
Abeego is the ultimate reusable cheese paper. Impress your friends at your next wine & cheese board night and share your cheese-saving wins!
There are so many types of cheese, we don’t have all the answers on how each performs. Become an #AbeegoExplorer and share your findings with us on Instagram!
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
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Promotion valid from Wednesday, Nov 24 until Tuesday, November 30 at 11:59pm PST.
For the third year in a row, Abeego has championed a giveback campaign for Black Friday/Cyber Monday. In 2020, we worked with the Ron Finley Project to help transform food deserts into food forests and in 2019, we gave back to Mamas for Mamas to supports mothers in crisis. This year, we’re excited to continue that tradition with Community Fridge Victoria to make an impact in our own neighborhood and beyond.
It's one of our four core values. Knowing what you feed grows, we commune around the table and ground ourselves in reciprocity and curiosity, eager to exchange what we have with those around us.
Community Fridges are popping up across North America & fuelling a grassroots movement to feed their local communities. Running on a "leave what you can, take what you need" basis, the fridges combat food deserts & make food more accessible to all.
With your help, we can feed the community both literally and figuratively by offering sustenance and contributing to a shared sense of support & togetherness.
Every Abeego purchased this weekend will help further stock the fridge here in Victoria, BC, (conveniently right across the street from Abeego HQ) assist with fridge maintenance, work toward building a second fridge, and inspire other cities to adopt the movement & create their own Community Fridge!
Curious about the impact this initiative will have? To share some inspiration, we asked Jaime Fogg of The Number to describe what has happened to the Rock Bay community since the fridge opened.
"As the fridge is located on the property that I come to work at 5 days a week, I’ve been able to witness the high traffic surrounding the fridge, how quickly the food is gone when it gets dropped off, and the widespread need for increased access to affordable food throughout Victoria. But what really stands out to me is the immense gratitude expressed by many people who use the fridge. I’ll often see people who use the fridge cleaning up the surrounding areas, offering to pick up garbage and just generally keep it tidy for the next person who comes along. So I guess what I’m saying is that the biggest difference I’ve felt in the neighbourhood as a result of the community fridge is the feeling of community, the smiles and gratitude that come from participating in mutual aid and seeing it play out in real time."
At Abeego, we’re on a mission to Keep Food Alive in pursuit of food for all. Over the last two years, many of us have developed a deep appreciation for our local grocery stores and the way their fresh food has nourished us physically and emotionally. This is a feeling of comfort and security that no one should be without. When you buy Abeego beeswax wrap this Black Friday/Cyber Monday, you’ll help ensure fresh food is accessible to all.
Together, let’s purchase with purpose this Black Friday.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
]]>To recap, Community Fridges are community-run fridges and pantries to make food free & accessible to everyone who needs it. Simple concept. Big impact.
With food insecurity on the rise and Canada’s largest inflation rate jump in 18 years, access to healthy & nourishing food is more important than ever. Could you imagine the impact if there was a community fridge in every city? In every neighborhood?
One of Abeego’s core values is Hunger to Feed—knowing what you feed grows, we commune around the table and ground ourselves in reciprocity and curiosity, eager to exchange what we have with those around us.
As we have learned from, contributed to, and been inspired by the iconic fridge in Rock Bay, we want to share with you some wisdom and advice from the Community Fridge champs in our neck of the woods should you feel inspired to bring one to yours.
We, a group of volunteers largely from Community Food Support initially, were inspired by the Fridges that were open or opening across North America (and likely beyond). We thought the highly decentralized and low barrier format of food distribution that fridges exemplify would fit in well in Victoria and serve really different needs than lots of the existing food distribution resources. Our volunteers come from all over the place. Some volunteers come from other food distribution programs like Community Food Support, and lots have come together from other ways. We’re always eager to meet new people and play to their strengths and interests to find ways for them to be involved.
I would recommend starting by reaching out to see if there’s any existing fridge networks in your area. For example, here in Victoria we’re really looking for people with shared values to start their own fridges and manage them. We really want to provide support in the start, and while running, and share resources and social media, but have people who are passionate about doing some of the more day to day! If there’s no fridge in your area though I recommend checking out this guide by Calgary Community Fridge and reaching out to other fridge social media accounts in your area/province and they can direct you in the right direction!
Get creative! Meaningful ways to get involved doesn’t have to mean cold hard cash donations (although, obviously those are welcome too). If you don’t have the means to make cash donations, think about some other ways to get involved, whether it’s helping to spread the good word via social media or putting up posters in your shop. Are you a business with clients? You could help spread the word to your clients, or offer discounts to your clients if they support the fridge (or a different community development initiative). Is your business a restaurant? Package up some meals with leftover ingredients after service, label them, and put them in the fridge (remember to check the guidelines before dropping off food donations). Does your business have a snack drawer for lunch? Maybe you could spend the snack money on fridge donations instead every once in a while!
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
]]>Cilantro is a delicious herb that can add a lot of flavor to your cooking. But it can be tricky to keep it fresh.
INTERNET SAYS...
Some say you should store cilantro in the fridge, wrapped in a damp paper towel in a plastic bag and this will help keep the cilantro from wilting. But you should change the paper towel every few days to keep it from molding. You can also store it in a jar of water in the fridge. Just make sure to change the water every few days. Another way to keep cilantro fresh is to freeze it. Just chop up the cilantro and put it in a freezer bag. It will keep for months this way.
THERE'S AN EASIER WAY.
Spoiler alert! Just wrap it in Abeego beeswax food wrap.
It's perfect for cilantro because it allows it to breathe but still keeps it protected from the air, light, and moisture. No more wilted, slimy cilantro mess! Bonus, it's reusable so you can use it over and over again, and it's completely natural so you don't have to worry about harming you, your food, or the environment. We recommend the Medium Square Wrap for cilantro bunches, available in a Single or 3-Pack.
Abeego is the world's first beeswax food wrap that disrupted the billion dollar plastic wrap industry and sparked the worldwide trend for beeswax wraps. On a mission to Keep Food Alive, we're rewriting the story on fresh food preservation. Hellbent on debunking the "airtight" myth, Abeego offers food wrap that protects and breathes, mimicking nature's peel to keep fresh food for what feels like forever. Explore our best selling wraps.
Across the street from Abeego lives The Number—a creative agency and inception center for so many of Rock Bay’s community initiatives, including Victoria’s first Community Fridge!
A Community Fridge is a public fridge & pantry that makes groceries free & accessible to anyone who needs them. They’re stocked by community members for community members. Wren Shaman, Community Fridge Victoria Volunteer, says these fridges operate on a “take what you need, leave what you can” basis.
At Abeego, we’re on a mission to Keep Food Alive in pursuit of food for all and are of the belief that food is an integral part in building strong communities. While this is true on a global scale, there’s something special about fostering reciprocity around food within the community we live, work, play, and harvest.
Food and community are the pillars of a Community Fridge, so you can understand how jazzed we were when it opened in our hood in the spring. Recently, we sat down with Wren Shaman, and Jaime Fogg, Social Media Manager and Junior Production Designer at The Number, to learn more.
In many other cities across Canada and the USA, community fridges have been a huge success: including fridges in Calgary, Regina, and Vancouver. These fridge projects share the principles of community care and mutual aid as central components of the project. Fridges operate on the premise that everyone has something to contribute! The Victoria fridge has been well received, and we are excited to continue building the fridge network. Community fridges are amazing places where folks come together for a common cause to share food, minimize food waste and work together.
I’m not sure how community fridges got their start, but the practice of mutual aid itself has a very long history, especially in BIPOC communities. I became aware of community fridges in 2019 as the network of fridges started to grow rapidly with the onset of the pandemic and as food insecurity grew rapidly. Prior to the pandemic (2017-2018) it is estimated that 1 in 8 families were food insecure but from 2019-2020 studies suggest that number increased to 1 in 7 families (14.6% of Canadians), and I (Wren) really see the increased number of fridges as a response to the growing need and instability.
I became involved because one of my jobs within The Number is to help with the Rock Bay Business Community (RBBC) initiatives. The RBBC had been looking for a larger initiative to support for the 2021 year, and when we were contacted with this opportunity I knew it’d be a great fit due to its inherent values.
It’s a placemaking, food security, and mutual aid project all rolled into one! Basically, once we were presented with the idea I helped to get the ball rolling on The Number side of things, although all the credit goes to the Community Fridge volunteers - they’ve been fantastic from day one, always there to help out, to get things moving, and ensure the fridge is an accessible place for all. On a more personal level, over the past few years I have developed a strong interest in grassroots community development initiatives and an appreciation for the important work that they do for marginalized community members and the wider community as a whole. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to be involved with the Community Fridge initiative through work, getting to see it and witness its benefits every day!
For Community Fridge Victoria I would love to see the project continue to grow. The support we’ve had in the community has been outstanding, but it would be really cool to have more fridges and have communities take more ownership of them. Part of the really cool aspect of fridges is how decentralized they can be, so having a network of self-sustaining fridges around the city is definitely my dream. Another dream is having more funky ways to support the fridge, for example tabling at markets to meet people, raise awareness, fundraise, and collect donations. One super cool model is the Good Neighbour thrift store that opened in Calgary to support their fridge network. It’s pay what you can, and the space is donated, goods to sell are donated, and volunteers donate their time to run the store. It’s so incredibly cool, something like that is definitely my dream. I totally recommend checking it out
Community fridges are especially valuable in cities or locations deemed “food deserts” because they provide free access to items, such as fresh produce, that contribute to a balanced and healthy diet but that may not be grown locally or are commonly inaccessible due to rising costs. Community Fridges help to fill a much-needed gap in communities where fast food or other convenient and often far less healthy options are more readily available and affordable. Everyone deserves access to fresh and healthy food regardless of their socio-economic status or if they are living in a rural or urban setting.
I feel that it’s important for businesses to support their community in meaningful ways because, after all, it is the community members that allow businesses to thrive by buying/consuming the product or service that the business is offering. I would hope that businesses feel they have an ethical duty to support their community in various ways, whether that is through a focus on environmental impacts, social justice issues, or any other community development initiative that fits their niche market!
There are SO many ways to support feeding your community, but independently organizing fundraisers, events, or food drives is a great way to support us in supporting our community! For businesses especially, considering things like a community item where all the proceeds from that item are donated, or a portion of sales, or a day/event where proceeds are donated are all great options.
For individuals, everyone has different capacity levels, so if hosting a fridge or pantry is something you can do that’s one way, or hosting neighborhood collections, fundraisers to support this fridge, or getting involved in volunteering with our team are other great ways. We are always really happy to find ways to work together. One really cool way to support feeding our communities is to organize your own networks. One example is Selkirk Montessori School. Through the work of a parent, the school has set up a food drive bin. Families send donations to school with their children and once a week a volunteer drives all the food down to the fridge. The Grade 8 students are involved in a leadership role too, helping to coordinate the project with the parent volunteer. What a cool way to gather food and educate students about nutrition, food security, and community care!! The same could be done at other schools, at community centers, at businesses, or in homes in neighbourhoods! Getting involved by volunteering is an awesome way to support feeding the community, and there are so many great groups in Victoria to work with. Community Food Support is our partner organization and they are always looking for volunteers too.
Space for more donations! Due to the nature of how the fridge and pantry remain stocked, it is difficult for the same types of items to be available on a consistent basis. However, items most commonly seen include dried pasta and canned goods.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
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"Great product! Have been using your wraps for a couple of years and love them. Have also gifted within our family and have added converts every time. Glad to see your recognition for quality!" -Diane
Few gifts under $20 make an immediate and positive impact on someone’s life as Abeego. A big claim, we know.
It’s not a gift that collects dust in a drawer or becomes re-gifted. It’s a gift that everyone can reap benefits from. We all store food, and we’ve all disappointedly lost food to poor storage. Imagine if you could remove this disappointment from someone's life entirely? Saved food also equates to saved money and saved time. It’s a win-win-win.
Abeego works to Keep Food Alive for what feels like forever, and the confidence of that claim naturally piques curiosity.
Our surefire way to get your recipient to use it straight away is to gift it with a challenge.
GUAC GURU? Challenge them to keep a halved avocado green & vibrant for 4+ days.
BREAD BAKER? Challenge them to keep their bread as fresh as fresh-baked for toast today, sandwiches tomorrow, and grilled cheese this weekend.
MEAL PREP MASTER? Challenge them to chop their vegetables on Monday and enjoy crunchy carrot sticks, juicy cucumbers, and crisp celery on Friday.
SMOOTHIE SPECIALIST? Challenge them to keep their mounds of kale perky throughout every smoothie of the week.
Trust us, they won’t prove you wrong and you’ll soon be known as the best gift-giver on the block!
We’ve even curated some Abeego sets to delight any recipient on your list:
Contains 4 Varieties (our best-selling box). Save $4.
Gift the whole bundle to a special someone (they’ll be a food-saving hero for months to come) or split up the foursome and satisfy four gifting occasions in one fell swoop. Teacher? Check. Secret Santa? Check. Co-worker? Check. All the stockings on the mantle? Check, check, check, check.
Contains 6 Small, 3 Medium, 2 Large, & 1 Giant (the whole Abeego family). Save $4.
The ultimate gift to fully kit out a, kitchen. For foodies, sustainability enthusiasts, and minimalists alike, Abeego is the gift they’ll unwrap the whole year through.
Contains 1 Variety & 1 Giant (the whole Abeego family). Save $2.
The ultimate Abeego hack. Want to gift all of the sizes but aren’t ready for a box of each yet? The Perfect pair comes with a single wrap of each size to trial each one and add to their collection with more of their favorite.
Grab a Medium and Giant for bread and cheese lovers. A Small and Medium for new parents to save half-cuts and bowls of leftovers. Two Larges for the self-taught sandwich artist. The choice is yours!
For cabin dwellers, outdoor cooking enthusiasts, and bonfire aficionados, gift a set of Abeego Firestarters. Water-resistant, slow-burning & chemical-free, our Firestarters are made entirely of our beeswax wrap trimmings and start fires like a hot damn. It’s the perfect way to kindle holiday memories.
Here’s to a joyous season full of shared meals and warm hearts. From our table to yours, happy holidays.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
]]>It was after studying the intrinsic qualities of a lemon peel that Toni's suspicions were confirmed—we had been totally punked by the plastic wrap industry to “lock and seal in freshness” for so many years. Food is ALIVE and needs to BREATHE.
When you have a whole lemon at home, you don’t wrap it in plastic. So why on earth do we do so once it’s been sliced? What makes us think that the juicy exposed citrus needs to be suffocated by a transparent and airtight container (like a plastic bag) when it’s been thriving protected in its own breathable & opaque peel? Well, it’s because we’ve been handed the wrong food storage tools. For years.
You have not failed your food, your kitchen tools have failed you.
Toni turned to nature to make her own DIY lemon peel, if you will—Abeego.
Abeego and citrus are good friends and go way back. Citrus lasts forever in Abeego so you’ll never waste another half lemon again. You can expect the cut side of the fresh lemon, lime or orange to slowly lose moisture until it feels dry to the touch. The newly dried end creates a second peel that locks the juices into the fruit. When you’re ready to use your citrus, cut a thin slice off the front of the fruit to remove the dried edge and et voila! You have a perfect citrus fruit ready to eat or juice.
We’re bringing zesty back.
In the Abeego test kitchen, we sliced a whole lemon in half and wrapped one side in Abeego and the other side in airtight plastic wrap. We store them face up in the crisper drawer of the fridge. Two weeks later, we unwrapped them.
THE RESULTS: The lemon on the left was wrapped in Abeego for 14 days and the lemon on the right in plastic for 14 days. Which would you rather squeeze atop your salad?
WRAPPED IN ABEEGO: Like the lemon's own skin, Abeego is breathable, protective and opaque. It lets food's natural oxidizing gases escape while still protecting it from air, light & moisture. After 14 days, we unwrapped Abeego to find a firm, zesty, juicy and ready-to-devour lemon.
WRAPPED IN PLASTIC: Airtight and transparent, plastic is unlike any peel, skin or rind found in nature. It causes food to suffocate, sweat, and exposes it to excess light (which contributes to food spoilage through photodegradation). After 14 days, we unwrapped the plastic to find a moldy, squishy, and wet lemon.
Not long ago, we also did a blind taste test of lemon juice from one lemon stored in Abeego and the other left naked. Turns out Abeego is also the best way to keep lemons delicious! Watch it here!
Nope! Over the past 13 years, we’ve tested and retested our beeswax food wraps with various types of citrus, like oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits and we have never had issues with the acidity of the fruit breaking down the wax coating of an Abeego.
It is with deep respect and gratitude that we create, build and operate our business in the communities of Southern Vancouver Island, which as a business we acknowledge is located within the ancestral and unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scia'new, T’Sou-ke and W̱SÁNEĆ (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.
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