In my kitchen this April are gorgeous eco friendly “bee” food wraps, this was a home craft tutorial I had seen on a blog some time ago and thought it was a cool idea. Couldn’t resist when I saw these bee wraps in a shop while visiting New Zealand. They come in various sizes, are reusable and you can wash them in cool water. Ideal for covering jars and bowls of food, wrapping cheese or other foods (not raw meats), sandwiches for kids lunch boxes or giving as gifts. You can see I used a bee food warp to cover this jar of very moorish truffle filled chocolate mushrooms… I have indulged in far too many.
My lovely new bee embossed jug and a block of beeswax, little memories of a visit to the Huka Honey Hive in Taupo. Maybe I will try my hand at making some bee food wraps… which inspired the purchase of beeswax.
I first came across black garlic on one of the IMK blog posts some months ago and wondered if I would come across this ingredient. Months later on a recent visit to Hong Kong, the words “black garlic” caught my attention, staff were passing out samples to customers in a supermarket… I now have some in my kitchen. The cloves taste sweet with dark caramelized undertones, the texture is jelly-like and the flavor of garlic quite mild. It takes about 30 to 40 days to turn a whole garlic bulb black, using a constant low temperature… some have tried this with a rice cooker kept on warm. Wonder how safe that would be? As of yet I have not used them with recipes, but do keep a lookout for a blog post using black garlic.
Some people wear the t-shirt… I buy the tea towel or sometimes a mug. Souvenirs in my kitchen of my memorable tour around the Kiwi360 in New Zealand. I was first introduced to the golden kiwi fruit last year, so it was pretty amazing to see thousands of green and gold kiwi fruit hanging from their vines, ready for picking. 
In my kitchen a spiral table-mat representing the unfurling of a young fern frond, often found in the intricate carving of the Maori people of New Zealand.
Soon to be opened, Manuka honey and green and gold kiwifruit jam in my kitchen. Each month the lovely Celia over at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial hosts the In My Kitchen theme, bloggers from around the globe join in and showcase their kitchen treasures. Why not join in too!
In My Kitchen April 2015
Food and Tools 
You always have the loveliest items in your IMK posts.
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Thank you, I really should give up collecting stuff 🙂
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Snap! I bought home the exact same trivet from my travels in NZ!
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You know what they say… great minds think alike 🙂
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Love the idea of those bee wraps!
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I do too and are a great idea, they would make wonderful gifts too. 🙂
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Aha! finally I know something about my gifted spiral table mat. The truffle-filled chocolate mushrooms sound intriguing.
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It is a really pretty table mat and a lovely souvenir from my trip to New Zealand 🙂
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Your spiral trivet is very elegant, and I am intrigued by your food wraps. I have never heard of black garlic. Must keep my eyes out.
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Apparently these bee wraps are easy to make and if I am successful at making them I will post the results… or it could end up being one big messy disaster 🙂
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Such lovely goodies from New Zealand. I just love the design on that tea towel.
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Thank you Kirsty, it was the design that attracted me to the tea towel and of course all the lovely colors. No drying old pots and pan with this tea towel 🙂
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I love collecting tea towels, they are just so adorable, especially with the ones with very beautiful prints. But honestly, I mostly use them for props. Now, you remind me that I have not bought myself new ones. I must put that to my to-buy-list for next month. 😉
I love everything here, especially the black garlic. I still haven’t encountered one. They must smell so good, eh?
Have a wonderful day. 🙂
#InMyKitchen
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Thanks for stopping by Jhuls. I use some tea towels for props too. The black garlic is new to me as well… they do smell of garlic and the taste is not as strong as you might expect. 🙂
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Thank you for your lovely post that brightened my day as used to live in New Zealand and love their produce too!
Thanks for this month’s kitchen view too!
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So happy to hear I brightened your day. We loved our time in beautiful New Zealand. Thank you for stopping by 🙂
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Love that sifter!
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Francesca maybe you have a sifter that looks like my mug 🙂
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Those chocolate mushrooms are just so adorable!! I thought they were real mushrooms 🙂 I have a thing for little jugs so just love your bee one. Cheers Jan x
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Jan, they do look very real, fun chocolate mushrooms and very yummy 🙂
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I love the bee wraps, I think wrapping food in fabric coverings where possible is so much better than plastic… I’m looking at expanding my collection of cotton bags etc 🙂
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Using less plastic is always a good idea and we should all be expanding our cotton bag collection. Thank you for stopping by 🙂
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I would buy that spiral trivet if I went to NZ! Those bee wraps look good, will check them out thanks!
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Hope you find the bee wraps Fergie, they are cute as well as useful 🙂
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So many wonderful things in your kitchen. I love your bee embossed jug and trivet.
Have a super day.
🙂 Mandy xo
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Thanks Mandy, you have a good day too 🙂
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Bee wraps are such a clever idea. I look forward to finding out if they are easy to do! Your embossed jug is so pretty – I’ve seen glasses in that pattern but nothing else…love the fern frond trivet – really gorgeous to look at but also very practical!
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Selma hopefully the bee warps are easy to do, they would make lovely gifts. They Huka Honey Hive had bee embossed bowls and plates too… you can only squeeze so much in you suitcase 🙂
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Love your little enamel mug! The bee wraps are really clever – what are they made from? The Maori frond trivet is very cute – did you see Sandra (Please Pass the Recipe) has a wooden block from NZ with a pau inlay in her IMK as well? 🙂 Loved the photos on IG – looks like you had a splendid time! 🙂 x
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Celia it seems the bee warps are made using cotton cloth and melted beeswax… that’s what I found out looking on the web. Yes I saw Sandra’s lovely board and her tea towel too… guess we must have been on the same wave length when shopping 🙂 We had a great time in New Zealand 🙂
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Love love love the design on your enamel mug. So much retro cookware in this month’s IMK — I’m coveting lots of it! 😉
Kavey (fellow IMKer)
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Hi Kavey, it is a lovely design and I thought it looked quite retro too. It is lovely having a peek into everyones kitchen… and we have the lovely Celia to thank for that 🙂
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I love that tea towel – and Nkuku mugs are always my favourite. Lovely post, thanks for sharing.
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Ania, I didn’t know the mug was a Nkuku and I have just realized, my tiffin tin must be from the same company 🙂
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Yum, those mushroom chocolates are so cute! I love the print on your bee wraps, I have some too, but plain, and I’ve also found they’re really useful.
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I am sure some of those chocolates mushrooms are resting on my hips now. I love that the bee wraps are reusable. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
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i love the honey hive in taupo. that bee jug is so cute and i love the kiwi trivet. black garlic sounds amazing. i have been searching for those beeswax covers; i must look again.
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Yes the honey Huka Honey Hive was a pretty cool place and lots of honey tastings,plenty of choice. Sherry, here is the link to the Bee-wrapt that was on the packet http://www.beewrapt.co.nz just in case you can’t find them in your area. 🙂
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thanks for that:)
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Those mushrooms are really interesting, at first I was sure they were porcini! Wonderful things in your kitchen, I just purchased some of those bee wraps as well. Seems they are going around the world. I’m looking forward to reading how you use the black garlic, I will keep a look out for it.
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Thanks for stopping by Liz, the chocolate mushrooms do look quite real 🙂 Still haven’t used the black garlic but will do soon.
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