** The difficult part is finding a reliable supplier of Bee Bread (Perga), which is very rare **

- The partially fermented pollen mixture stored in the honeybee combs, also referred to as "beebread" has a different composition and nutritional value than the field collected pollen pellets and is the food given to honeybee larvae and eaten by young worker bees to produce royal jelly.

- The major components of pollen are proteins and amino acid, lipids (fats, oils or their derivatives) and sugars. The minor components are more diverse (Table 3.2). All amino acids essential to humans (phenylalanine, leucine, valine, isoleucine, arginine, histidine, lysine, methionine, threonine and tryptophan) can be found in pollen and most others as well, with proline being the most abundant. Many enzymes (proteins) are also present but some, like glucose oxidase which is very important in honey. have been added by the bees. This enzyme is therefore more abundant in "beebread" than in fresh pollen pellets.

- Most simple sugars in pollen pellets such as fructose, glucose and sucrose come from the nectar or honey of the field forager. The polysaccharides like callose, pectin, cellulose, lignin sporopollenin and others are predominantly pollen components. After storage in the comb the further addition of sugars and enzymes creates beebread, through lactic acid fermentation.

- Bee Bread aka Perga has a higher nutritional value than pollen. Due to the fact that pollen loses mush of its nutritional value very quickly (mostly due to improper processing & storage, rampant in the market), bee bread is a valuable alternative.

- Bee Bread do NOT lose any nutritional value at all due to the fermentation process performed by worker bees. In addition, this process adds new nutrition to the pollen ie enzymes, honey etc. Bee Bread can be kept up to 2 years without any nutrition loss.





http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e10.htm


Other info


http://www.fao.org/docrep/w0076e/w0076e10.htm


Pollen, like other protein rich foods, loses its nutritional value rapidly when stored incorrectly. Fresh pollen stored at room temperature loses its quality within a few days. Fresh pollen stored in a freezer loses much of its nutritive value after one year. Longer, improper storage leads to the loss of a few particular amino acids, which cause deficiencies in brood rearing (Dietz, 1975). When dried to less than 10% (preferably 5%) moisture content at less than 45°C and stored out of direct sunlight, pollen can be kept at room temperature for a several months. The same pollen may be refrigerated at 5°C for at least a year or frozen to –15°C for many years without quality loss as tested by feeding to honeybee colonies and recording brood rearing rate (Dietz and Stephenson 1975 and 1980).

NUTRITIOUS BEE BREAD

http://www.beekeeping.com/articles/us/saville/apitherapy.htm


Pollen collected by bees is mixed with nectar and packed into the cells of the honeycomb where ferments slightly to form 'bee-bread'. This contains practically all the essential amino acids, many vitamins (A, B1, B2, B3, B6, C, E and H, biotin, folic acid and rutin) and minerals (calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, sodium). It also has wide range of medicinal applications especially in cases of disturbed metabolism, digestive disorders and allergies (Kaal 1991).

Honey not only contains mono-saccharides that are easily absorbed by the body and better than sucrose sugars in terms of the impact on human health, it also contains numerous trace elements, vitamins and minerals, and enzymes that assist human digestive processes.

Nutritional benefits of pollen in the form of 'bee bread'. Farmers were encouraged to separate out 'bee bread' from honeycomb when harvesting honey and to keep it aside for consumption as a 'medicine', especially for children, pregnant and lactating mothers, convalescents and the elderly.


http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/beebook/sec1/sec1.html

A single bee may carry up to 5 million pollen grains in a single trip. Some pollen is proba- bly consumed, but most is mixed with small quanti- ties of honey or nectar and possibly salivary prod- ucts and packed into cells adjacent to the brood nest where it undergoes a chemical change to a product called bee bread. This product is stored until consumed by adult bees for conversion into glandu- lar larval food, a kind of "mother's milk " Bee bread is the principal food of the adult nurse bees. This nutrient was so named by primitive man because of its bready taste. Nurse bees eat and convert bee bread into at least two different glandular secretions, which are then fed to bee larvae.

Fresh pollen dies after a few days
Fresh frozen pollen dies after 1 year
Dried pollen (<45C, 10% moisture) at room temp. dies after a few months
Dried pollen (<45C, 10% moisture) in fridge dies after a year
Dried pollen (<45C, 10% moisture) & frozen at -15C dies after a few years


http://www.alternativescentral.com/beepollen.htm