What is Soy Wax?
Courtney Jones
Have you ever wondered how soy wax is made? This is a question we get quite often, so we thought we would share a bit about how our wax is made…
Soy wax is a vegetable wax made from the oil of soybeans- a bean belonging to the legume family. The vast majority of the beans used to make soy wax is grown right here in the USA! These plants are primarily grown in the midwest states like Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana.
Soybeans are usually harvested in the late fall, during the months of October and November. After harvesting, the beans are cleaned, cracked, de-hulled, and rolled into flakes. The oil is then extracted from the flakes and hydrogenated. The hydrogenation process converts some of the fatty acids in the oil from unsaturated to saturated. This process dramatically alters the melting point of the oil, making it a solid at room temperature. The leftover bean husks are commonly used as animal feed.
The Benefits of Soy Wax:
The most common attribute of soy wax is that is makes a natural candle that burns slowly and cleanly- making it a better choice for your home environment, but did you know they are also better for OUR environment?
Soy's greatest advantage is that it is completely renewable. While the global reserves of oil shrink and paraffin prices increase, the only limit to the soy supply is how much we choose to grow. The soy that we use in our candle making process was likely in the ground less than a year ago, and chances are that same field is growing more soy for the candles to be made in the future.
So when you shop with us, you can know that our products are sustainable, eco-friendly, renewable, and American grown.