I Made a CANDLE out of BERRIES - The Incredible North American Bayberry

[@WeirdExplorer]

Now that You've seen the North American Bayberry, be sure to check out my episode on the very tasty Chinese Bay Berry: kzbin.info/www/bejne/p3rWoXaceqajppY

[@SnarkNSass]

💚🎄💚 Jared... You're my favorite KZbin Nephew ❤

[@terryenglish7132]

Next time you feel like working many hours for little result , I seem to remember other fruits that were waxy from other episodes...

[@zakiakram2648]

You made my day , actually night but you got the idea , Man you are one legend of a fruit lover I have no words to thank you for going so far for us , I simply have utmost respect for you ! you know i watch you videos in my breaktime or resting-time to stay relaxed and Your efforts are useful for a lot of people , Thank you and stay blessed .

[@exotic-grower-gamer]

I’ve been seeing your videos since I was a kid I forgot about account way back and found it some months ago I love your channel merry Christmas

[@juliebaker6969]

Bach in the 60s when I was growing up, my grandma's family all had a tradition. I don't know the origins of the tradition though, since Grandma never told me (she had a bad habit of just assuming you knew things you didn't). The tradition was that they would take a bayberry candle and light it on Christmas Eve when we put out the cookies and milk for Santa. It had to be a REAL bayberry candle too, not just a bayberry scented fake one or one where the bayberry wax was mixed with something else. The candle had to be allowed to burn out, that was part of the tradition. It was supposed to light the way for Santa. She (like you) didn't trust letting the candle burn unattended without taking sufficient precautions, so she would leave the cookies and milk next to the kitchen sink, and set the candle in the sink so there was nothing flammable around for it to set fire to overnight. It was usually either burned out, or almost burned out when we got up in the morning. If it was still lit, we had to go back to our room until it burned out before we were allowed to get up and open our gifts. I always wondered where and how that tradition started. I think the sputtering in your candle was from bits of moisture in the wick from the liquid that leaked out the bottom. Our bayberry candles never sputtered like that.

[@StuffandThings_]

There are so many obscure vegetable waxes out there, that a mini series about them might genuinely be an interesting adventure. I for one would watch!

[@bleepbloop404]

I second this! Oh, and bioplastics would be cool too:3c

[@Hyreia]

The crackle from the impurities just adds to the charm of the thing. I can imagine when they made them by hand they weren't perfectly pure either. Just safe enough. I bet this would be just right to people who made these. And there's no reason to leave a candle unattended anyways! It's for light! : ) Especially then.

[@ffc1a28c7]

The crackling is most likely water

[@JonHop1]

This is amazing man. Its crazy you made this video, because my grandmother STILL makes BayBerry candles to this day each Christmas. She has a ton of them as shrubs at her house here in Pennsylvania and gets almost 10 lbs of them together and makes a few candles out of them. She has been doing it for almost 50 years now... She uses a huge drum tho to boil and obviously uses a whole bunch more, so she is able to separate the debris a lot more easily. Merry Christmas Jared and Happy Holidays!

[@AlbinoAxolotl]

Wow! You’re so lucky that you can see this tradition being continued in your family! That’s so cool!

[@FragrantlyOdious]

That's awesome

[@Melissa0774]

Do they have much of a smell to them from the fruit?

[@JonHop1]

@@Melissa0774 umm, the scent isnt really easy to describe, I wouldnt label it fruity tho at all.. I am going to my grandmothers house tomorrow so I will let you know and I will try to really pinpoint more of the fragrances for you.

[@Melissa0774]

@@JonHop1 Is it anywhere near as strong as a typical scented candle?

[@tomelko]

The smile on your face when you lit that candle was great.

[@MajorJakas]

You're among the most creatively lovely and pleasant youtubers, thank you for this content!

[@WeirdExplorer]

Wow, thank you!

[@jimsonjohnson3761]

Calm down

[@jarred267]

You lost quite a bit of wax to residue on the containers and strainers. If you ever try this again, boil as you did, then use a small stainless bowl or large stainless measuring cup full of ice water to help collect the wax from the surface of the water after it's cooled down to just above room temp. Basically think of the process like you would defatting a beef stock. Let it sit, then skim off the wax which is behaves the same as the beef fat@@WeirdExplorer

[@noobsaber3213]

@@jimsonjohnson3761wdym calm down? Lmao

[@formlessone8246]

​@@jarred267bear in mind that he's a vegetarian, I can guarantee he's never processed beef stock or beef anything for that matter.

[@cptnmus8996]

Not sure if you'll find this useful but having a bit of experience extracting wax from water: have a large spoon in ice, pull out and dry quickly then touch back of spoon to waxy water and only wax will stick, scrape off with razor into your collection vessel, repeat. You can just keep the pot simmering until all wax is gone.

[@GerinoMorn]

I was thinking more like fractional distilation, possibly in vaccum or argon if there is a risk of combusting xD

[@beachton]

Jared, you have my deepest sympathy! I have been on this same journey. It’s so messy! And it feels like so much wax is left behind in the seedy matrix! I live in the south where we call this wax myrtle. I have wanted to make candles out of these since I was a kid. Finally tried it a few years ago and did the same thing you did, made a giant mess with water boiling and straining and skimming. I poured my end product in a silicone mold and got some small brittle sticks of green wax. But I didn’t give up. The next year I picked about 8 pounds of berries and decided the problem was the water. I tried infusing the berries in oil. I put them in jars and heated them for a long time in a slow cooker. I tried mineral oil, olive oil, jojoba oil, and more. I strained the waxy oil through coffee filters and then made wood conditioner and lotion bars out of it with added beeswax. That worked great. But I still wanted candles. So the next year I tried infusing the berries directly in beeswax. I heated beeswax together with the berries and stirred and stirred, then I strained it through muslin. I put the whole bowl and strainer setup inside a slow cooker to keep it hot enough to run through. This method was very successful. I took the leftover waxy seeds and stirred them into a bucket of saw dust to use as a sweeping compound on the concrete floor of my shop. No waste! But there is a catch. It turns out I’m allergic to myrtle. The burning candles make my throat burn. And if I use it in a lip balm it has the same effect. I can use it as a hand lotion ok, but it has to stay away from my mouth. The ginger ale would be RIGHT OUT. I put the little 2oz candles I made on my Etsy shop and sold all of them even though I thought $15 for a tiny candle was crazy. But it was a LOT of work! I wanted to do it again this year but birds ate all the berries.

[@sdfkjgh]

@beachton: God, I can just imagine what it'd be like if you had to go through all that just to survive. It sounds like a _Twilight Zone_ or _Tales from the Crypt_ episode.

[@beachton]

@@sdfkjgh I think that’s why people used to just go to bed as soon as the sun set!

[@sharendonnelly7770]

Jared, thank you so very much for solving my personal bayberry candle mystery! I applaud your tenacity! As a child, mid 1950's through the 1960's, our family had a tradition of only bayberry candles during Christmas and New Years. I loved the scent, and the color, as your candle exactly replicated that feature. Sometime during the 1970, bayberry candles changed, and not in a good way. The scent was wrong, as was the color. As a bayberry candle lover, I have searched in vain many years for a true replica of my childhood. Your bayberry candle journey found out what I suspected, it's dang hard to make bayberry candles without cheating! Crap! Starting today, going to buy bayberries and make my own candle for next year, per your guidance and experience making yours! Merry Christmas, enjoy the scent of childhood's past!

[@sandrastreifel6452]

I just remember the name “bayberry candle”, but I could probably recognize the scent!

[@DrDIY1]

Nooo! There is still time to make one for this season and burn on new years! Order the berries today and u can get them tomorrow

[@catsmother4556]

If you make your own may I sugest you put the straind liquid into a metal container. Then when you poor off the water to get the wax the container can be heated to nelt the wax residue around the edge rather than trying to scrape it off the sides.

[@sunstarsseekersanctuary4241]

is there any chance you are near the eastern coast? you can forage berries there.

[@sharendonnelly7770]

@@sunstarsseekersanctuary4241No, I live in central Texas. Best things to forage here are mesquite beans and prickly pears. I did find some online, expensive, but worth it for the holidays.

[@ATClouse]

I can see why people didnt make a lot of these candles but just the fact they figured out you could is impressive for how much work this was

[@juliettestofmeel]

That’s desperation for ya.

[@nova0241]

I'm glad you mentioned bayberry usage as a hops/bittering substitute! I made my own wild foraged root beer recently, and used bayberry leaves as a bittering agent.

[@brslade]

I'm from Cape Cod, and we have bayberries everywhere. When I was in first grade (around 91-92) We had some old ladies from town come to school to help us make candles to give to our parents for Christmas. I made mine and gave it to my mother, it had that same green hue and a very distinct smell I always assumed it was just a bunch of left over wax they had, however now I know it was bayberry wax. My mother still has the candle and she only burns it on Christmas morning. I'll be smelling it tomorrow morning.

[@mailleweaver]

This is entirely speculation, but it might be easier to gather the wax if you cooled the water in a container that provided less surface area at the top. Something like a vase or those long-neck glass globes that people tend to save pennies in. That would force the floating wax to be concentrated in a much smaller area than it was in your wide plastic box. I may have to try this myself someday. It looks like an interesting project.

[@mikekuppen6256]

Or a sauce separator, made to separate water and fats.

[@az55544]

if you let the berries dry down a month or so, you can rub them over a screen to remove a lot of the wax. it should give you a good start to some fairly clean wax. you can still boil the berries to extract more, but the bulk will come from this first step. use a plastic bag or a covid glove on your hands to keep the wax from adhering to your skin.

[@Mrs.Silversmith]

I love the reaction to the candle popping out of the mold: -audible gasp- "it's beautiful!" Like a parent holding their newborn.

[@gingermany6223]

It’s a Christmas miracle you got that out of the mold in one-ish piece 😂

[@jasonsummit1885]

You showed more patience than I would. I'd have quit halfway through. The candle turned out pretty darn awesome, and you didn't cheat.

[@AlbinoAxolotl]

That was so interesting!! I would love to see Townsend make a video on early American candles and see him replicate this method as well!

[@lorisewsstuff1607]

I was thinking exactly the same thing.

[@MadelineHere]

Tell Townsend - they are always asking for content ideas.

[@liquidlemon763]

Wow! Loved the effort, it must have been so nice to finally be done with that craft. It was a lovely shade of green as well. I'm not sure if I'd know the smell of bayberries as I'm outside of the US but I'll definitely keep my nose to the ground over the holidays. 😊

[@sweettthings]

Back in the '80's the business I worked for gave out natural bayberry taper candles as a gift at holidays. The scent is gorgeous!

[@Loksog47]

" Those people are quitters!", And that narrowing of the eyes... That was spectacular! Subscribed. 😅😊

[@Hin_Håle]

Cool! If I had access to bayberries, I would definitely try this out. Btw, Myrica Gale (or sweetgale) grows wild here in Sweden and has been used to spice mead, hard liquor and, like you said, beer. I found some for the first time last summer and BOY does it have an amazing aroma! I'm going to use it to make a batch of sweetgale mead.

[@TaLeng2023]

Is it also waxy?

[@iainwalker8615]

I believe bayberries (the ones you used to make the candle) are now considered to belong to the genus Morella, whereas the related bog myrtles are placed in the genus Myrica. Myrica gale, also called bog myrtle, which you also mentioned, is still considered to be in the genus Myrica.

[@Manyhigh]

Myrica also have a species that was very common for use in beer before hops became the dominant gruit, myrica gale, or sweet gale. The leaves are still used to spice liquor here in scandinavia. But both the leaves and drupes can be used as spices. Gave some bunches of nutlets(lol) to a friend to flavour his homemade mead. They have a bit of an oily resinous smell that reminded us of some strange herbacious cough drop, he said ricola. It should grow wild in the east north america. And you just got to the Gale part as I wrote this, lol. Still posting this, cheers!

[@x_sheenah]

The satisfaction of life at 29:03

[@goiterlanternbase]

7:01. The leafs have a layer of wax as well. You should had rolled or mashed them before drying, like it is done with tea leafs.

[@Difficult1427]

I don’t know how you do it, but these videos about fruits are the most relaxing and soothing thing for me

[@lovefalcon1111]

I love these videos so much! I just happened to have the seeds for the North American Bayberry and apparently now is the time to plant them. 💚🍒🌱

[@WeirdExplorer]

Great! Good luck if you decide to make a candle :)

[@lovefalcon1111]

@@WeirdExplorer 🩵😂

[@SynthiaNominae]

Though I personally knew about bayberry candles before this, I know many people don't. Thank you for putting in the work to prove the concept, and showing people the amazing world of fruits!

[@ScenterSquare]

Thanks for this lovely video. I don’t have the shrubbery available in quantity to make candles from my own rendered wax, so I buy it in vast quantities throughout the year to make bayberry candles for hundreds of traditional candle lovers around the globe. It’s my favorite wax to work with, followed by beeswax. I spend many hours each day dipping and packaging the wondrous wax creations.

[@johnnyearp52]

Wow!

[@dj-kq4fz]

When I was a kid growing up near Plymouth, MA USA it seemed like everything was bayberry in our house. The smell came right back to me when you said "bayberry". Amazing. Thanks!

[@brianshoubert7803]

My respect who makes candles with his own hands! 👍

[@deadredeyes]

@ 1:51 getting some serious Townsends vibes. Love it!

[@westleah5000]

(6:45) *Decoction:* Some types of leafs must be boyled to liberate the flavor. You can also use a large cup with leaves and fresh water, and place it in the microwave for two minutes. (23:04) *_'Cerifera'_* means 'waxily'. _'Cera'_ is 'wax' and _'fera'_ is 'producer'.

[@joshuawallace6292]

I started making these for my wildcrafted home goods business this season! awesome to see a video on this from you, I love the knowledge you provide

[@sdfkjgh]

20:24 I don't know why, but this had me in peals of laughter.

[@objective_psychology]

Criminally underwatched channel. Your creations are always great! No need to downplay them :)

[@JTMusicbox]

That’s why I love this channel! Sure, you review fruit, but also foreign junk food, interesting plants, epic battles between personified milk substitutes, and now, even making bayberry candles without being a filthy cheater like those others! Weird in all the best ways!

[@davidedgar2818]

I remember picking bayberries and making candles with my mother and sisters when I was a young child. The smell of the whole process and even the candle itself was quite pleasant✨

[@AskMeABee]

In the beginning I was ecstatic to see that I have a bayberry tree in my yard... by the end I realized I will never do that. I will never dedicate that much time and energy into a candle. 😂😂Great job! You have amazing perseverance

[@_Piers_]

I really like the colour of the finished candle and it's quite suprising giving the colour of the fruit and all the boiling liquids during the process. It also looked like it burnt very nicely, a great success :)

[@celestegrey]

You’ve been making some incredible videos recently!! The passion fruit wars and now this amazing one have been my favorites. Thank you for all the amazing content!!

[@QuantumRangerPower]

Oh my gosh, the crunch when you ate the North American Bayberry was too funny. Perfect comedic timing and presentation.

[@MermaidMakes]

Thank you Jared, this is so cool! I love plant crafting, and when you explore other uses of plants. You are one of my favorite channels by a long shot. We need more people making videos doing things they actually love to do or simply for the fun of it, instead of constantly trying to conform to the algorithm. I miss old KZbin for that.

[@BigBadBossu]

this was really informative and a lot of effort on your part to do all this for us viewers. Thanks for opening my eyes to a true American holiday candle tradition I never knew existed!

[@DylanUPSB]

This is a great episode and I worry people will brush over it because the title sounds gimmicky but the history and stuff around it makes it so much neater!

[@SarahLovesFood]

I love it when you show multiple uses of one fruit!

[@lairdcummings9092]

Interesting. My grandmother burned a lot of bayberry candles - they were this exact same shade of green.

[@Kristenhas3cats]

THIS is what I want the internet for. And I'm so glad you called out the bayberry quitters. Somebody had to say it.

[@alidaweber1023]

I would suggest that you get a granite mortar and a granite pestle for grinding hard seeds.

[@maskcollector6949]

I wonder if he could have gotten more wax out this way.

[@Erewhon2024]

​@@maskcollector6949The wax is a coating on the peel, not in the seeds.

[@maskcollector6949]

@@Erewhon2024 Then it's just super inefficient lol.

[@karim6651]

I've been watching your vids for a few years now and I have to say: You've gotten so great at storytelling and structuring your videos in a way that makes them really interesting! Always appreciate you trying to process the fruit in different ways, and the longer uploads

[@qwertyyouiop8959]

Grate job don't burn candle at both ends and it's nice to see you enjoying the fruits of your labor!😊

[@Verlisify]

Behind the sarcastic smile for comedic effect I saw a flicker of genuine joy when he first lit it

[@hqi01]

Great video!!

[@WeirdExplorer]

thanks!

[@garybridgham5432]

I tried this back when I was a young man-50 years ago. The berries looked similar to your second batch of berries. They grew in a field in my back yard. I had about 1 to 1-1/2 cups of berries. I put them in a 1 qt. saucepan with water and boiled them all as you did, but an oil floated to the top and when it cooled I had about a teaspoon or more of a very clean/pure green wax. I’d say my berries had more wax. Maybe it depends on when you harvest your berries. If I had enough wax to make a candle it would have been green, but all the commercial bayberry candles I have seen were brown. That left me in a quandary. Thank you for your video. It showed me I wasn’t far off track and had better luck than you, though you showed much more perseverance.

[@TheHarleyEvans]

something to aid in wax extraction perhaps, place the fruit in a mesh bag with a stone or two when you boil them, the wax should pass through the mesh and rise to the top whilst most of the impurities should be trapped in the bag at the bottom

[@acccardone7679]

This was a neat video. I’ve grown up in California and had never heard of bayberry candles before. Now I’m curious as to how they smell. I have a few suggestions that should make this process go a lot easier, especially if you have the ability to leave something outside for a day. First, put the raw bayberries into a cheese making bag before boiling. This should eliminate the need for filtering out the chaff from the waxy water. (This technique is used in both cooking and crafts to remove the pita of filtering.) Second, place the tub of boiled water outside in the cold (freezing?) weather and the wax should be easier to remove. Especially if you use a container that has a small top surface. In fact, if you allow the water to completely freeze, the wax might just slide off the ice when you go to separate the two. (Although, that definitely works better when the two frozen substances are both at least a 1/2” thick.) But even if the water doesn’t freeze, if the wax gets cold enough it should still be a lot easier to remove. Good luck and thanks for all of your fascinating videos!

[@Chloe-cs2nc]

I thought I couldn’t love you more, and then you released this gem of a video on the SAME DAY I made a bayberry candle of my own!!! Please never stop making your content - there’s not a single creator out there like you

[@michigansoul460]

I hope he makes more content like this amazing!

[@mandab.3180]

i love the candle! it looks so nice and handmade. it's too bad it's such a difficult process. and actually the ginger beer sounds kinda tasty. well done fruit king 🎉

[@wildweedle6012]

Love content like this. Not a word about the scent tho?

[@DudokX]

I love the final scene!

[@justbeeeb2061]

Holy shid! The John Waters' Pink Flamingos Divine shirt!

[@waywardbard]

I applaud your efforts and your process! What a lesson in patience. And our ancestors did this annually! Makes you appreciate modernity. Also lol at the end joke.

[@GetIsekaid]

Did the candle actually smell good? Merry Christmas Jared!

[@PizzaLogger]

Classic zany content with another new and interesting fruit. Thank you for another great video

[@adreabrooks11]

So a couple questions: 1. How long did this candle burn? 2. After all that hassle: if you had to make candles regularly, would you choose a sweet-smelling bayberry candle, or an icky-smelling tallow candle? Great video! You just handily earned a new viewer. :)

[@alisonhenry820]

I'd probably "cheat" and mix them 😅

[@CC58]

Merry Christmas! 🎄🎅🍓🫐🫒🥥🥑🍎🍏🍐🍑🥭🍍🍌🍋🍊🍈

[@alwina2452]

That was excruciating! But brilliant…. You are one crazy unique and inspirational guy. Happy Holidays to you, and big love A xx

[@jonna-licatrini1164]

My family hasn't done this and thirty something years. You just brought back so many memories

[@devandestudios128]

Dude that is insane how much effort it tool for that one candle. Way cool.

[@clarkefountain2258]

Such candles were commonplace usually around Christmas where I grew up in North Carolina, emanating from old Moravian folk traditions in Winston-Salem.

[@h7opolo]

Ok, i live in maine. I gotta try these.

[@WeirdExplorer]

You should!

[@kainpyrovolann4375]

It so cool ro see you use fruits and plants in general to make different things with them. Whether they are soups, candles, or soaps

[@josephcottrell1939]

King alert!! That candle looked awesome!

[@LC-le9ew]

Awesome! You forgot to mention the lovely green color! How did it smell?

[@Missmetal333]

You are a hero for getting through that. A triumph at the end. Such big props

[@dancinggoat22]

Fantastic! Thank you and Merry Christmas! 👏👍🎄🕯️

[@TheNails3]

Talk about laborious, your tenacity with this was very impressive!! Very interesting, great end result - I love the green colour. Lovely candlestick too. The smile on your face when it was done, aww haha pure happiness

[@searose6192]

The color of the candle is gorgeous.

[@tonette6592]

My favorite book as a child was The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane, so all of my life I have known about Bayberry candles. Interesting learning how-to, or how not to. I looked them up; 100% barberry candles are rare to find. I enjoyed this greatly. Unvarnished. Best to you.

[@WeirdExplorer]

Thanks for sharing!!

[@KerryLiv]

If I've ever seen anyone deserve a like and subscribe, its you for this memorable effort. A lesson in determinations rewards for us all!

[@GolosinasArgentinas]

Great episode!

[@carolh9734]

love the colour. Well done and thank you for persisting. Really very interesting. The crackling is so comforting too.

[@WeirdExplorer]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@smellthedailyfresh]

I’m so happy for you! You did it!

[@boogiedaddy3434]

We went on a 5th grade field trip to Cape Cod back in the day. I remember the tour guide on the bus told us about making bayberry candles and passed out berries for us to see and/try if we wanted. The texture was bad due to the wax and lack of notable juice in the flesh, but the aroma was gorgeous.

[@OfficialFire]

I loved this! It's great when you go through a lot of variations trying to refine a fruit for different purposes too

[@nenben8759]

7:00 id suggest not using more leaves for more flavor, but rather bruising them and simmering over a longer period of time, like you would bay leaves. never used em before but i know thats how you get flavor out of some of the more subtle spices and herbs

[@endlessnameless7004]

Thats bayberry drink you made looks absolutely refreshing.

[@gloomy_gus]

That smooth jazz hit tho. Powerful vapor energy.

[@JHaven-lg7lj]

Thank you for doing this! I love bayberry bushes, I have a huge one outside my front door that I brush every time I go in just to release the scent

[@JHaven-lg7lj]

Your candle is beautiful, and the end of the video is awesome 😄

[@QSGWorldwide]

enjoyed every part of this, hopefully it will bring in some huge numbers

[@-7070]

That scam is prevalent in essential oils as well. Brands will label the product as "fragrance oil" which is not the same as essential oil which is distilled plant oils and there's also a lot of brands that don't say how diluted they are, so it takes trial and error to find good ones that aren't overpriced That said it's still super cool you can make a candle from berries!

[@Minyassa]

I was so proud for you when you lit that thing. It was a hallelujah moment. Good going!

[@TheFarmacySeedsNetwork]

Dude, you did an excellent job and that came out phenomenal considering it was your first time! Thanks for sharing this experience with us! Very intriguing! Now I have to go and search up bayberry species, more specifically that medicinal shrub version, I've got some growing work to do now! Now! Thank you!

[@iangomez7190]

Great video

[@pirouette168]

You're pleasant to listen to and I had some good laughs!😂 nice work ! Thank you.

[@brendabucklew8847]

Before you even start, bayberry is my favorite!!!! That smell is amazing. It has to be a top three smell for me. ❤

[@supergiantbubbles]

This was great to watch. Your production values are getting better. Keep up the good work :)

[@BlueBerry_Percentage]

I have been a long time watcher of your channel and I love this video so much because of the fact that I have been looking every were on how to make wax from plants that grow were I live and it is stupidly hard to find. For a long time I have enjoyed making things from only what I can find in places were I live to see how people would learn to make things from what was available to them and oh my god was wax one of my worst enemies to make. The amount of time I have spent look for something so simple is not even funny, I mean hours of my day spent on looking at videos with 5 views just trying to find something. Then this failed I would try the good old fashioned way of trying everything and seeing if it works. After months off trial and error this video would save me from my madness. This is just one big thank you message to you and your channel. You and Your channel have help me so much with my hobby it is unreal and you videos are very well made on this topic in fact my love of botany comes of this channel so I hope you have a great day.