Honeybee_ Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - C. Marina Marchese [55]
Bee pollen is said to regulate blood pressure and lower cholesterol. Crude, raw honey also contains traces of bee pollen that are beneficial to humans, and some veterinarians recommend pollen for certain animals. Beekeepers collect pollen by placing a wooden, drawerlike piece of equipment called a pollen trap at the entrance of the hive. As the bees return to the hive with pollen on their hind legs, they are encouraged to crawl through a narrow tunnel of the pollen trap, which pops the pollen off their legs. Losing the pollen must be confusing to the bee, and beekeepers should not attach the pollen trap too often, as bees need pollen to feed themselves and their brood.
PROPOLIS: THE PERFECT ANTI-EVERYTHING.
It is said that the third wise man, who carried myrrh to the birth of the baby Jesus, actually carried propolis. Famed Italian violin maker Antonio Stradivari polished his violins with beeswax and propolis. Aristotle is noted for giving propolis its name; pro means “before” and polis means “city,” so propolis translates literally as “before the city,” or loosely as “in its defense.” The ancient Greeks observed how honeybees used propolis as a defense for the bee “city,” or hive; in fact, honeybees practically weld their hive joints together with propolis before the oncoming winters to fortify the hive against harmful bacteria. Today personal-care items, like topical salves, throat sprays, tablets, and toothpaste found in most health-food stores, tout the benefits of propolis. It has been proven to have antibiotic, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, and antiviral properties, all wrapped up in one ultrasticky ball. Propolis contains all the essential minerals, plus iron, calcium, aluminum, and manganese; it is rich in B vitamins and all of the other vitamins known to man except vitamin K. It is known to stimulate the body’s immune system and is also found in trace amounts in raw honey, especially honeycomb.
In its raw, natural state, propolis is highly aromatic and bitter tasting, gooey like taffy, and can be kneaded into balls when it is warm. It cracks like peanut brittle when cold. Propolis can be softened or diluted with alcohol, and poured into bottles and sold as a tincture. Colors of propolis range from deep golden yellows to reddish brown to almost black. As with pollen and honey, the plant it comes from determines its color and composition. It is a well-known fact that the earliest beekeepers were the ancient Egyptians, who embalmed their mummies with propolis, and for this reason many of those mummies have survived for thousands of years. Propolis is widely used topically in many eastern and European countries to promote new cell and tissue growth in open wounds. Rosemary propolis and red propolis from Brazil and Cuba are made by Africanized bees, who gather resin from two rainforest plants, green Alecrin and Clusia, respectively. These two types of propolis have recently gotten some attention.
One other interesting fact about propolis is that if a wayward mouse enters a beehive, it often has no defense against the worker bees, which sting it to death. The bees then completely cover the mouse in propolis before the rotting carcass spreads its odor or bacteria throughout the hive.
LET THEM EAT ROYAL JELLY
Yet another magical product made by honeybees, royal jelly is the food of the queen bee. I had seen royal jelly in plenty of ginseng drinks, facial creams, and capsules in natural-food shops, but like most people, I really had no idea what it was or where it came from. This white, creamy liquid is produced by nurse bees, who secrete it from glands in their heads and feed it to all bee larvae. The queen bee, however, will continue to eat royal jelly her whole life. The ongoing consumption of royal jelly is one of the reasons queen bees are twice the size of worker bees, lay about