Bayberries are one source of natural
wax and date back to early settlers
to
New England. To make a single 8"
taper candle,
it takes 1.5
quarts
of
bayberries, or about 15 lbs to make 1 lb of wax (though elsewhere
I have seen it said that about 4lbs of berries are necessary). In the
Swiss Family Robinson the family makes candles from wild bayberries.
The bayberry itself grows in thickets near swamps and marshes along the Atlantic coast and shores of Lake Erie. To extract the wax, boil the berries. The wax melts off at 116 to 120 F (much lower than other waxes) and floats on top of the water. The wax itself is green and color and more brittle than other waxes, but the candles give off an aromatic scent of newly cut hay. The wax is also smokeless after snuffing.
This candle is traditionally given out at Christmas along with the
poem:
This bayberry candle is a gift from a friend,
on Christmas Eve burn it down to the end.
A bayberry candle burned down to the socket,
brings luck to the home and wealth to the pocket.