The Greatness of Bee Pollen

Bee Pollen

I was up at our Wellington store recently and was really surprised at how many smoothies were selling from our new kiosk.  The girls told me that our FABS smoothie was really popular with our customers.  This is a recipe based on the smoothie I have most mornings...  full of really good ingredients, including bee pollen. 

The kiosk has allowed us to introduce really healthy products to our customers, including bee pollen. 

I was introduced to bee pollen when I was a child.  My father was a beekeeper and he would have it on his cereal.  It was bad enough that we had to use kelp instead of table salt, honey instead of sugar, but now he was encouraging us to try bee pollen on our Weet-bix cereal! 

I did try it back then, and I didn’t like it!  I would rather chew my way out of a horse barn than have that stuff on my cereal.  It didn’t matter how hard my father tried to convince me of its health benefits, I couldn’t swallow it.

He eventually gave up and I wouldn’t see bee pollen again until I opened the first Honeymeisters (known then as Honey Hive) store back in 1995. 

You know how, annoyingly, as you get older you eventually become like your parents?  I started becoming my father back in 1995.  He may have died in 1992, but now it’s as if he lives in our house.  My pantry has kelp instead of salt, honey instead of sugar, and yes, even bee pollen, much to my children’s distress! 

There have been improvements however, down the generational track.  The kelp is blended with sea salt and no-one even knows it’s in the grinder.  Over the years, we’ve worked out everyone’s favourite honey.   I almost gave up when my son told me he simply did not like honey on toast until he discovered liquid honey dew recently.  He thought it was golden syrup.  When I told him he had been having honey dew, he looked really upset.  I told him that honey dew isn’t like other honeys; the bees collect the insect poo from sap-eating insects off Beech trees.... I stopped explaining when he started removing the half-eaten toast from his mouth.  Fortunately he loved the honey so much he chose to forget its origins.

All of this seemed incredibly easy, compared to the task of getting my children to eat bee pollen.  I watched as my son put four Weet-bix in his bowl, followed by, shock horrors... a tablespoon of sugar.  “Why not honey?” I pleaded.  He looked at me as if I was mad.  Maybe I am, as I reflected back to my own childhood.  Why have I become my own father?

Still, in my quest to get bee pollen into my children’s diet, I formulated this rather healthy concoction of ground flaxseed (linseed), sunflower, almonds and bee pollen.  A naturally sweet, nutty mixture that tastes incredibly good on Weet-bix!  It actually tastes really good on any cereal, but my son only eats Weet-bix, so it had to work on this product.

My husband decided to try it on his cereal and immediately loved it.  My son could take it or leave it... so partial success!  I decided to name the product after my husband’s nickname, Fab.  I also decided to create a smoothie in its honour, FABS.  When customers started asking for the product itself, I packaged it up and now it’s available at our Wellington store.  It’s called FABS, of course.  Great replacement for sugar on your cereal, and yes, it has bee pollen in it!

So what is my attraction towards bee pollen?  Bee pollen is in fact one of the most nutritionally rich and natural foods available to man. 

Some of the benefits to us are that it holds off the ravages of age and is anti-carcinogenic, increases energy levels, helps to increase the metabolism, spurring weight loss (this is due to the lecithin in the bee pollen), and finally, you could literally live off of raw bee pollen in an emergency as it has every vitamin, mineral, amino acid, and enzyme known to man.

This is nothing new to mankind – in fact, the history of bee pollen is even older than mankind.  Bees buzzed over our planet long before humans came into existence.  The pollen and honey produced by the bees provided nourishment for animals in the very early days and later for people as well.  We now know that primitive man not only fought the bees for their honey, but also feasted on the bee pollen stored in the comb.

The Bible, Torah, Koran, along with the scrolls of the Orient, the writings of ancient Greece and Rome all praise the industrious honey bee and her highly nutritious and healing products of the beehive.  There are even legends which claim that bee pollen was the secret “ambrosia” eaten by the ancient gods to acquire eternal youth.

So what is bee pollen exactly?

Not to put you off, but bee pollen is basically plant sperm.  The grains contain the male germ cells, produced by all plants, flowers or blossoms.  One teaspoon of pollen contains approximately 1,200 pellets or 2.5 billion grains.

The actual gathering of pollen is quite complex.  When the honey bee spots a flower, she settles on the stamen (the pollen producing part) and skilfully scrapes off the powdery loose pollen with her jaws and front legs.   Next, she moistens the pollen with a dab of the honey she brought from the hive.  Her tibia contains thick, trimming bristles called “combs,” which she uses to brush the gold powder from her body mid-flight into tiny baskets found on the outside of her legs.   When her basket is full, the microscopic golden dust is pressed down into a single golden granule.  Back at the hive, enzymes and nectar are added to the flower pollen to make “bee bread.”  Bee pollen is removed from her legs before she gets into the hive as she passes through the small holes in the pollen trap.  Beekeepers don’t trap for too long as bees rely on this food for their own nutrition.  

My father created a honey and bee pollen spread, which also ended up on the breakfast table when I was a kid.  He ground the pollen and honey into a paste-like spread.  I would have rather dragged my tongue over a piece of sandpaper than eat this spread on my toast... but that was my childhood recollection.  I think I could create a product a little more palatable and will work on this next year, using my own children as bait.  I won’t stop until I get to the “take it or leave it” stage – which is about as good as I will ever get with my own kids.

Like honey, bee pollen can’t be duplicated in a laboratory.  Despite thousands of studies on bee pollen, there are certain components in it which science still cannot identify.  The bees add some mysterious ingredients that may very well attribute to its amazing healing properties.

What we do know is that bee pollen is considered a “superfood,” meaning that it contains every ingredient required for sustaining life.  It contains every vitamin, mineral and amino acid that the human body needs.  It is 25% vegetable protein (including at least 18 amino acids, and all eight essential amino acids) and contains more than a dozen vitamins, 28 minerals, 11 enzymes and co enzymes, and 11 carbohydrates. 

There have been many studies conducted on bee pollen over the years and just “googling” about bee pollen could tie up an entire weekend.  The important thing to know is that it’s really good for you. 

Studies show that pollen increases the body’s resistance to stress and disease and also speeds up the healing process in most conditions of ill health.  Bee pollen also contains nutritive, energetic, and metabolic properties, as well as antibiotic substances that are effective against coli-bacillus and certain strains of salmonella. I wish I knew that when I ate that bad hot dog a few years ago! 

Did I mention bee pollen can help in the treatment of ulcers of the digestive tract, colitis, migraine headaches and urinary disorders.... okay, I must stop.

Am I repeating myself about the nutritional benefits of bee pollen?  If so, I apologise.  There is just so much information on bee pollen, it’s mind-boggling!

I will finish with one last benefit of taking bee pollen – it has been used to treat allergies for many years.  You could “google” hundreds of accounts where bee pollen has been very successful in the relief of hay fever or pollen-induced asthma.

Just one last thing I have to share... I started taking bee pollen by the tablespoon when I learned that bee pollen exerts a profound biological effect - it apparently seems to prevent premature aging of the cells and stimulates growth of new skin tissue. It offers effective protection against dehydration and injects new life into dry cells. In other words, it smoothes away wrinkles and stimulates a life-giving blood supply to all skin cells. Should I be showing you my photograph at this point? 

I expect by now you are all “googling” about bee pollen and being bamboozled by all the pages and pages of information.  Whether you want the health-giving benefits of bee pollen or just eternal youth, I reckon you’ve got to find some way of getting bee pollen into your and your family’s life.

Some people actually like the taste of bee pollen, and it that’s you, you are very lucky.  Sprinkle it on your cereal, or chew it straight, then spend hours getting the yellow stuff from between your teeth.  Weird!  But if you are like me and liken bee pollen to wet hay; then take it in your smoothie – it’s actually not too bad.  Like I said at the beginning, our FABS smoothie is one of our most popular!  Alternatively, try some of our FABS on your cereal.  You could take bee pollen in capsules, but I reckon you’d have to swallow half the bottle to get any real benefit.  I personally believe you need about a tablespoon to feel any real benefit.  Still, some is better than none.

For those who would prefer to wait until I come up with a tastier version of my father’s honey and pollen, I’ll let you know when this is available!

As with any bee product, I should warn you of potential side effects. 

I read in one “google” page that a side effect to be weary of was that it increases the sex drive in both men and women.  If my husband read this, he would argue that this is neither a valid nor an actual side-effect for women.   Maybe I need more?

More seriously, what are the bee pollen side effects you need to be aware of?

Honey bees will travel to as many plants as possible to get the widest range of nutrients possible.  It is therefore pretty difficult to know what plant the pollen has come from.  Some plants like dandelions are more likely to cause some people allergic reactions.  Some side effects are allergic reactions like itchy throat, wheezing, coughing, hives, and skin flushing.

All these are characteristic responses of any bee product.  If any of these responses happen to you upon taking bee pollen or any other bee product, discontinue its usage immediately and consult your doctor. 

Severe allergic responses are also possible, although extremely rare, including anaphylactic shock.  Anaphylactic or anaphylaxis is characterized as a vehement response to a drug, food, or supplement causing convulsions, breathing problems, and unconsciousness.  With any bee product, always start taking it in small dosages and then work up from there.

The vast majority of people aren't allergic but if you have asthma or an allergy to bee stings, consult with your doctor first.  Always be especially aware of your physical responses when taking any new supplement.  Bee pollen is no exception.  Pregnant and lactating women should consult with their doctor about taking bee pollen supplements, even if they've been taking it previously.  Children should be given very small doses to see if any unwanted physical allergic responses occur.

If these warnings haven’t put you off, then check out our website www.honeymeisters.com and get some of our bee pollen.  Did I mention our bee pollen comes from the Canterbury region of New Zealand?  I eat bee pollen by the tonne so I make sure it comes from unpolluted areas – not that I’m putting myself first. 

I must now tend to our bees and work on those pollen traps.  If I’m to collect fresh raw bee pollen for my new honey and pollen spread next year, I better get started.

Kris
Honey Meister