Collecting and storing bee pollen is a rather difficult and labor-intensive task. But at the same time, every beekeeper should know how to handle this apiary product.
Therefore, try to approach the process of collecting and drying pollen as responsibly as possible so that you end up with a high-quality and healthy product.
Why does pollen quickly lose its beneficial properties?
The rather “unpleasant” properties of pollen are considered to be that its life-giving properties quickly dissipate, even despite high-quality storage conditions, and first of all, the vitamins and amino acids it contains disappear.
This feature is due to the fact that even after the pollen has been collected, various biochemical reactions continue in it, due to which the loss of important nutrients occurs.
How bees collect pollen
The healing properties of pollen are much higher than those of honey. Apparently the bees think so too. Each striped worker, flying out to field work, collects not only nectar, but also pollen. Transferred to the hive, it acquires another name - pollen. This is because bees carry pollen on their legs.
The pollen is then subjected to various processing processes. The main product of these processes is bee bread, which is considered bee bread, since it contains not only carbohydrates, but also proteins.
The value of pollen for people increases due to the fact that bees, when collecting pollen, treat it with special enzymes, as a result of which it loses some of its allergenic properties.
However, during storage, the beneficial properties of this product are very quickly lost. High-molecular compounds such as amino acids and vitamins are destroyed especially quickly.
This rapid degradation is explained by the fact that after collection, biochemical processes continue in the pollen for a long time. The weak stability of pollen is associated with its purpose. After all, these are male carriers of plant genetic information. Their life is short-lived, because after the pollen lands on the stigma of the pistil, it germinates and becomes part of the mother plant, in which the seed and fruit are formed.
Why do you need to store pollen?
The product is obtained by insects to feed all the inhabitants of the hive. Bees store pollen in baskets on their hind legs. Therefore, its second name is pollen. Bee pollen has a complex composition, containing trace elements, vitamins, protein, and lipid complexes.
Depending on the plant from which it was collected, it may have a greenish, reddish or yellow tint. Mixing with enzymes secreted by insects during the process of collection and transfer, pollen acquires unique properties.
The substance could not be obtained in laboratory conditions. The beneficial properties of pollen depend on what plants it was collected from, how it was dried and under what conditions it was stored. The footstool is used:
- to strengthen the immune system;
- prevention during cold season;
- during menopause, as a source of estrogen;
- to improve kidney and gastrointestinal function;
- as a natural antioxidant;
- used for sore throat;
- for problems with the prostate gland.
Course use saturates the body with energy and has a general strengthening effect. Due to the large amount of protein, it is used in dietary nutrition. Adults take a teaspoon 2 times a day; children only need 1 dose. The substance has tonic properties, the last dose is no later than 18-19 hours.
Important: pollen should not be given to children under 3 years of age, people who have a tendency to allergic reactions to flowering plants or bee products, those who are prone to weight gain, or those with diabetes.
Expert opinion
Zarechny Maxim Valerievich
Agronomist with 12 years of experience. Our best country expert.
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Only properly prepared and stored product has healing properties. To collect pollen, beekeepers use pollen traps - valves with holes installed in front of the entrance. Squeezing into the hive, the bee loses part of the collected substance, which ends up on the pollen tray. Every 2-3 weeks of collection, insects are given a week's break to replenish food supplies.
Pollen traps are not installed during nectar collection. They are also not used in cloudy, humid weather. The tray with pollen is emptied daily; the pollen can become damp overnight.
Proper storage
Important. The shelf life of bee pollen, if all conditions are met, is no more than 2 years. To ensure that the product does not lose its most valuable properties, it is necessary to strictly follow storage rules.
The question of how to properly store prepared bee pollen at home should be approached with all seriousness. A dark glass container with a tightly sealed lid is best for storage. The room requires relative darkness, dryness, cleanliness and a temperature of 20ºC. If there is no special storage, then you can safely put it in the refrigerator. Cold helps preserve nutrients and prevents the appearance of insects. Freezing prepared pollen is contraindicated.
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Before packaging the product in jars, they must be sterilized with alcohol or steam. This way you will be sure that no bacteria will disturb the pollen storage conditions.
Why should men take pollen?
Sexual impotence and loss of libido are problems that men find difficult to admit even to themselves. Fatty acids and a vitamin complex contained in bee pollen will help gradually restore male strength, and also cope with stress and fatigue, which are often the root cause of impotence. Moreover, with the help of pollen you can fight infertility: pollen improves the viability of sperm, thereby increasing the chances of fertilization.
Another serious male problem is inflammation of the prostate gland. Scientists at the University of Wales conducted research on the effectiveness of taking pollen to combat prostatitis. The tests showed stunning results: the subjects had a decrease in the number of urges to urinate at night and discomfort in the prostate, and the tendency to narrow it decreased. The effectiveness of pollen in the treatment of inflammation of the prostate gland was experimentally proven by Swedish doctors Erik Aska Upmarka (Uppsala University) and Guest Johnson (Urology Department of Lund University Hospital).
Important! Regular intake of pollen in recommended doses can get rid of prostatitis completely, and not just delay the time of going to the surgeon. In addition, consumption of pollen will serve as a preventive measure against cell mutations that lead to prostate cancer. However, if you have prostate adenoma, you should not use the product!
Processing and drying of pollen after collection
Freshly collected bee pollen retains its beneficial properties only for 24 hours. This is due to the fact that it contains about 30%!in(MISSING)ode. Therefore, before storing bee pollen, it must be dried. Drying is performed in various ways.
Naturally
The room should be well ventilated, without direct sunlight. At a temperature of 25–35 degrees, pollen is dried for 5 days. The apiproduct is laid out on paper in a layer of 1-1.5 cm, mixed at least three times a day.
To determine whether the pollen has dried or not, just try to crush it with your fingers. The dry product will not yield - the grains are very dense. Or pour a handful of grains from a height onto a hard surface; a characteristic tinkling sound should be heard.
Using a dryer
As a rule, beekeepers use professional drying ovens. Drying occurs under the influence of infrared rays. The device maintains the required humidity and constant temperature.
This method saves time and guarantees the quality of the bee product. Up to 15 kg of pollen can be dried in a drying cabinet in 1–2 days. Finally, the apiproduct is sifted or blown with a hairdryer to remove foreign debris.
Storage methods at home
When fresh, bee products quickly deteriorate (they become moldy and are exposed to bacteria). To preserve it, drying and preservation are used. How to dry the pollen has already been described above. When ready, the first thing you need to do is pack it in sealed bags , otherwise fatty acids will oxidize and healthy proteins will decompose.
Pollen preservation also has its own characteristics:
- if you take fresh pollen, then you need to mix it in a 1:1 ratio with crystallized honey or powdered sugar;
- when already dried products are canned, then for the same amount of preservative you need to take 2 times more;
- the resulting mixture is compacted tightly into the tanks, after which they are closed.
Find out how bee bread differs from pollen.
Beeswax
Beeswax is the most flexible of all products when it comes to storage. It does not require any special conditions other than moderate humidity levels. You can store the product in the kitchen, on the balcony or in the refrigerator - it will not lose its smell, color and beneficial properties.
Article on the topic : Beeswax: answers to the most common questions
Brief instructions:
- Do not store in a place with high humidity levels
- keep away from products with intense odors
- preferably stored in paper bags
- Shelf life: up to 5 years
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Assembly
In the apiary
Pollen is pollen grains that are collected by striped workers on cross-pollinating plants. Sometimes beekeepers also call it pollen or bee bread.
Flying from plant to plant, striped workers put the product in special “bags” on their legs, and then bring them to the hive. In order to select this valuable product, beekeepers use pollen traps. Their device eliminates the possibility of a bee passing through if it has pollen on it. Therefore, she must throw off most of the bee bread and only after that go to her house. At the bottom of the pollen catcher there is a small mesh box where the pollen lumps fall.
In one arrival, a bee can bring about 25-35 mg of product, and over the course of a whole season, about 6-8 kg of substance can be taken from a bee colony without causing the slightest harm to the bees. It is clear that for such work the beekeeper chooses the strongest families.
Rules for collecting and drying pollen
collected in summer and spring using pollen traps, but not during the main honey flow. This option can increase the profitability of your apiaries by up to 130%! and (MISSING) more.
So how to properly collect bee pollen? You should remove pollen from the pollen trap every day before dark, as pollen that you leave overnight may become damp.
Drying pollen. After it is collected, it needs to be dried:
- in a darkened room (drying cabinets can be used);
- it should be well ventilated;
- the temperature there is about 20-40 ° C.
The collected pollen should be scattered on sheets of paper in a layer that does not exceed 1 centimeter. Dry it this way for 3 days.
And don't forget to stir the pollen from time to time. It is also possible to make this process faster by increasing the air temperature to 40 degrees, but maintaining humidity (not higher than 10%!) (MISSING). This will shorten your drying time by several hours.
When the pollen is ready, it will have certain characteristics:
- You will feel that it is in the form of separate hard lumps that you cannot crush;
- When you pour dried pollen onto plywood from a height of 20-25 cm, you will hear a sound that resembles a metallic ringing.
You can see a variety of debris in the pollen, so you can get rid of it with the help of a fan or hair dryer.
The second way to dry pollen
Bee pollen can also be dried in a vacuum for 2 hours, but at a temperature of 120 degrees. This way we can get rid of beebread moths without losing useful substances.
Read Flower pollen, beneficial properties
Collection of bee products
In spring and summer, bees actively collect pollen from flowers and carry it to the hive. Insects use it for daily nutrition and preserve it for the winter in the form of bee bread. Beekeepers collect pollen using pollen traps. This is a special device that is installed on the taphole. A bee crawls along it and some of the pollen falls off. Remove it every evening, placing it in plastic or glass containers. Otherwise, the product will become damp overnight and become unsuitable for further use.
Preparing pollen for storage
Pollen pollen is collected using special pollen collectors. From these, the product is taken away for storage until evening. Otherwise, the pollen left overnight may become damp.
The problem is that fresh pollen, even processed by bees, contains a lot of water. In order to preserve all the beneficial properties of this product, it must be thoroughly dried. For this, beekeepers use special drying cabinets. The shelf life of the pollen largely depends on the drying procedure.
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Drying of pollen should be carried out in a special room where the following conditions are created:
- lack of light, especially sunlight;
- constant flow of fresh air;
- air humidity no more than 10%!;(MISSING)
- temperature in the range +20…+40ºС.
The collected pollen is first scattered on special sheets. Ideally, all of it should lie in a very thin layer. The permissible maximum thickness is no more than 1 cm. The pollen must be mixed throughout the entire drying process. However, this does not last long - about 3 days.
The degree of readiness of pollen for storage is determined by a number of signs. Dried pollen has certain properties. Now these are no longer fluffy, loose lumps, but small peas that are difficult to crush.
There is another sign of readiness - if you pour dried pollen onto plywood or a tin sheet from a height of 20 cm, a sound similar to a light metallic ringing will appear.
If all these signs appear, then the product can be cleaned of foreign impurities and stored.
There is another, more advanced way of drying bee pollen. We are talking about the use of vacuum installations. In this case, it will take only 2 hours and a temperature of about +120º C to dehydrate the pollen.
About the beneficial properties of pine pollen
Packaging
Among the many similar substances, pine pollen is probably not known to everyone. But in vain, since its usefulness for the human body is extraordinary. The reason for such unsurpassed help in the treatment of various diseases is simple: composition and origin, which are interrelated.
Like any other pollen, the pine “version” of the substance is intended for one purpose: to fertilize female reproductive cells. It contains 27 different minerals . In addition, it contains enzymes, vitamins, amino acids, microelements , which mean a lot for the full functioning of the human body. Scientists have not yet been able to create it artificially.
Pharmacists in many countries use the substance as a valuable storehouse of vitamins. On its basis, Swedish scientists, for example, created the healing drug “Cernilto”. Doctors of traditional and alternative medicine use the product to treat:
- diseases associated with the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract;
- pulmonary tuberculosis;
- prostatitis, prostate adenoma;
- oncological diseases;
- respiratory diseases;
- diabetes mellitus;
- diseases associated with the nervous system;
- cardiovascular diseases, since when it is consumed, blood vessels become more elastic, blood microcirculation in the heart and brain improves. The presence of flavonoids contributes to a significant reduction in lipids and cholesterol. Therefore, it treats hypertension very well.
Thanks to the use of the product, the body slows down the aging process.
Benefits of Canning
If you preserve pollen with honey, you can not only extend its shelf life without losing its properties, but also achieve a number of additional advantages. Of all the advantages of this method, it is worth pointing out the following facts:
- After preservation, the characteristic bitterness is eliminated.
- Mixed with honey, pollen will be much tastier and more enjoyable. It will be much easier to feed children with such goodness.
- When combined with honey, the healing properties of pollen are enhanced.
- This mixture contains more vitamins and nutrients.
Contraindications
Despite its good tolerance, pollen is not indicated for the following conditions:
- intolerance to bee products;
- polyvalent allergy;
- tendency to bleed;
- severe diabetes mellitus (treatment with pollen and honey is especially dangerous in this case);
- sleep disturbance, difficulty falling asleep, insomnia (in this case, the product should be taken no later than 14 hours).
Storage rules
If you decide to engage in apitherapy, then you need to know how to store bee pollen at home. In order to preserve all the healing properties, it must be placed in a vacuum plastic container or glass jar with a tight lid. This eliminates the possibility of the bee product becoming damp and there is no access for pests. It is recommended to pre-sterilize the storage container and then dry it.
The container with natural medicine should be kept away from sunlight at room temperature. A refrigerator is also suitable for storing it. The medicine cannot be frozen; it will lose its beneficial components.
