Bee bread: storage methods at home - how to dry bee bread for storage

It turns out that beebread is made from flower pollen that remains unspent on brood. The bees first place it tightly in the honeycombs, gluing it with their fermented saliva, and then, to ensure the safety of the product, they cover it with honey and seal it with wax. The sealed pollen becomes beebread during the fermentation process.

Bee bread has found its application in medicine, food and cosmetic industries. Bee bread is rich in vitamins, amino acids and microelements, which makes it a very valuable product for humans. In its natural form, it is used as a general tonic and to combat many ailments.

Collecting beebread on time and correctly is only half the battle. It is also necessary to preserve bee bread for a long time without losing all the beneficial substances and unique healing properties.

A video from the Azaria PergaPlus channel will tell you about the beneficial properties of bee bread and the rules for taking it.

When is bee bread prepared?

There are several periods during which beebread honeycombs can be removed from a beehive without harm to the family:

• In the spring.During this period, the bees are already beginning to actively collect pollen, so the old frames can be taken away.
• In summer, honeycombs in which the cells are completely sealed with wax are removed.
• In the fall before winter.

Before further harvesting, beebread honeycombs should have no signs of mold, foreign odors or contamination.

Storage methods

Experienced beekeepers store beebread at home in three ways:

In the honeycomb

Storage in honeycombs is the most important matter, since the product should be protected from oxygen, and also ensure a temperature within +1..+5 Cº. Pieces of bee bread with honeycombs are placed in small glass jars and tightly closed with lids.

In the form of a paste

In order to prepare bee bread paste, it is ground in a meat grinder and mixed with a small amount of liquid honey. Store the product in jars in the refrigerator or at room temperature.

In granular form

The granulated product is obtained by extracting bee bread from the honeycomb. Pieces of clean bread, freed from wax and other impurities, can be stored much longer.

Before storage, the bee bread is dried. This can be done either naturally or using heating devices.

The natural method involves drying the bread in a dry room at a temperature of +20...+25 Cº. This process is quite lengthy and takes several months.

If the granules are dried in an electric dryer for vegetables and fruits, then the heating temperature should not exceed 40 degrees.

The readiness of the product is determined by squeezing the granule. If it wrinkles like tight plasticine, then it’s too early to finish drying; if it crumbles into pieces, it’s overdried. Properly dried bee bread leaves a crack after compression.

A video from the “Belarussian Beekeeping” channel will tell you in detail how to dry bee bread in an electric dryer.

Shelf life of bee bread

Bee bread retains its beneficial properties for 1 year. The main thing when storing bee bread at home is to maintain the temperature, the required level of humidity and limit access to the product of oxygen and foreign odors.