Fresh Frozen Pollen -
Undried, needs to be kept frozen. It has a soft texture and dissolves
readily
Fresh Dried Pollen - Dried,
keeps well at room temp. It is crunchier than fresh.
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Bee Pollen - 1 oz sample
size in glass jar - $2.00
-
Bee Pollen - 1/4 lb jar
- Glass jar with hexagons in glass - $7.00
-
Bee Pollen - 1/2 lb jar
- Glass jar with hexagons in glass - $13.00
-
Bee Pollen - 1 lb jar
- Glass jar with hexagons in glass - $20.00
Note: Variety of flower source
varies from location of collection and time of gathering in the year.
What is Bee Pollen
Bee
Pollen is the seed of a flower blossom, which has been gathered by bees
and to which special digestive enzymes and nectar from the bees has been
added. Pollen is the bee’s source of protein, where honey is their
source of carbohydrate. The pollen is brought back to the hive and
stored in the honeycomb cells for use later to feed the young. The
pollen undergoes a fermentation process in the hive that preserves it allows
it to last forever in the hive. Bee pollen out of the beehive should
be kept cold (frozen) or dried at a low drying temperature, which helps
to keep the enzymes alive as most enzymes are destroyed by heat.
In
its attempt to collect its pollen, a bee lands on the chosen flower and
begins transferring it from the flower into its pollen sacs. These
“sacs” are in fact a crevice in the knees of the back legs (hence bee pollen’s
nickname of Bees Knees) and it is just compacted into this crevice forming
a pellet. It takes a bee approx one hour to collect these pellets,
which are approx. 20 mgs, each containing up to five million pollen spores,
each spore capable of reproducing its entire species. Therefore one teaspoon
of bee pollen contains about 1200 pellets or about 2.5 billion grains of
pollen. To collect pollen from the beehive for human consumption, beekeepers
attach a collection tray to the hive that upon arrival back to the hive,
the bee passes through a screen large enough for the bee that knocks off
the pollen pellets that stick out beyond the bee’s profile. This
pollen is frozen or dried for storage. Pollen is best consumed within
one of year of its collection for optimum potency.
Bee
Pollen is a protein, a complete protein and is the only known food to contain
all 22 amino acids, which includes all eight of the essential amino acids
needed by the body that we do not produce ourselves in our system.
As pollen is a complete protein, it is an excellent protein to include
in your diet if you are looking to supplement your protein intake or replace
other proteins in the case of the vegetarian diet. Bee pollen has
more protein per gram than any meat or fish. Most protein “powders”
used to add to a drink or shake mixture are generally a single type of
protein (whey or albumen). Bee pollen is easy to add to the same
drink but you are getting a complete protein rather than an isolated protein.
Bee
Pollen has a sweet grainy flavour that suits pairing up with cereals or
other grains but the flavour (and colours) is directly related to the flower
the pollen has come from. Incorporation of bee pollen into your diet can
be achieved in several ways. Simply, it can be taken straight by
the spoonful followed by a drink of fluid at which point it will dissolve
or it can be mixed with a serving of honey. Also, it can be added
to cereal or granola, sprinkled on toast, blended into juice or health
shakes, mixed into salads or sprinkled on sandwiches or ice cream. One
teaspoon to one tablespoon per day seems to be a common recommendation
although much more is reported to only increase the benefits. It
is detrimental to the components of bee pollen to heat it and therefore
cooking or baking with bee pollen is not recommended.
Although
the individual pollen spores have a hard coating, this coating is porous,
the body can extract the components through this coating and has been clinically
tested to show that orally ingested bee pollen particles are rapidly and
easily absorbed and pass directly from the stomach into the blood stream.
Within two hours after ingestion, properties of bee pollen are found in
the blood, in cerebral spinal fluids and in the urine.
As
the effects of bee pollen will only be evident after a period of time with
regular, constant consumption, it is essential to incorporate into your
daily diet.
It is also recommended to
take bee pollen in the morning or more specifically, before your daily
activities begin (rather than at the end of your day) due to the increased
level of energy experienced after taking bee pollen. For weight management,
it is recommended to have your daily pollen 30 minutes before eating a
meal for weight loss and 30 minutes after a meal for weight gain.
Vitamins and minerals are
present in Bee pollen but their content depends largely on the flower the
pollen comes from. In particular, bee pollen contains all the B vitamins
(this group of vitamins being more effective to us if taken all at once
rather than isolated) and contains Rutin, which does not exist in many
plants.
Bee Pollen has been documented
to help relieve seasonal allergies. For this purpose, the pollen
consumed should be from a local source to your general location.
The pollens that people who suffer from allergies react to are not the
same pollens that bees collect. The ones we react to are referred
to as wind pollen (anemophile) and the pollen bees collect is entomophile
pollen (not the wind variety). There enough similarities between
all pollens that the consumption of bee pollen throughout the year allows
your body to build an immunity to the pollens that are cast off into the
wind and cause your allergic reaction.
Other
conditions relieved by the use of bee pollen include fatigue, prostate
irregularities (connected to the amount of zinc in pollen and the absorption
of zinc is aided by the pollen), low blood pressure, arteriosclerosis,
pre-menstrual syndrome and menopause, asthma, skin conditions, counteracts
the effects of radiation and chemical toxicity. Body and mind functions
improved with bee pollen include focus, feeling of well-being, alertness,
sexual desire and performance and athletic endurance.
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