News Flash--High Desert
News Flash--High Desert Bee Pollen just recieved the highest ORAC antioxidant score of all of the whole foods yet tested!
The C C Pollen website was established to provide information about Bees, beehive social structure, and Superfoods from the beehive - Bee Pollen, Royal Jelly and Bee Propolis. Our Beehive Tour is a really cool tour where you can meet all the different bees in the beehive and find out all about beehive society. Our other tours feature Products of the Beehive and they explain why these Superfoods are the health supplements of the future. Many modern health supplements feature a single compound or nutrient, isolated from it's natural source, and purified for standardization. But complexity is what nature is all about. C C Pollen believes that nutritional complexity and the synergy that occurs between nutrients in natural foods is the key the healthiest diet. All people should benefit from a diet that includes a rich assortment of living, bioactive whole-food nutrients. That's why Superfoods from the beehive are the future of nutrition. So, if you want the healthiest diet, go back to the future! Enjoy our tours, and then join the Beehive!
Royal Jelly is another of Nature's Superfoods
Royal Jelly is a special substance of the beehive.
Royal Jelly is solely responsible for the incredible transformation of a queen bee from an ordinary worker bee. The queen bee begins life genetically identical to any of the sexless worker bees. A group of bees called Nurse Bees produce Royal Jelly for the hive. Thay eat large amounts of Bee Pollen to use as the raw ingredients for the production of Royal Jelly by their bodies. The Nurse Bees then secrete Royal Jelly by their pharyngeal glands. The Royal Jelly is fed directly to the "Queen To Be". Soon after starting this diet she is transformed into a larger, superior bee. She matures one and a half times faster than normal bees. She also grows 40% larger in size and weighs 60% more. During her life she will lay over 3 million eggs, which weigh more than 3500 times her body weight. She will live 5 to 7 years while the workers only live 7 to 8 weeks. All this is possible due to the miracle of royal jelly!
What Is The Composition of Royal Jelly?
Royal jelly is so complex that it has not yet been possible to fully analyze it. Of course, it is impossible to synthesize it in a lab! We do know that it contains the following: natural hormones, all of the B-complex vitamins, and it is rich in pantothenic acid. It also contains nucleic acids, essential amino acids, essential fatty acids (especially Omega 3's), acetyl choline, lecithin, collagen and gamma globulin - a key component of the immune system. Of all of the Superfoods, Royal Jelly is the most intriguing, both nutritionally and effectively!
WHERE NATURE BEGINS
WHERE NATURE BEGINS Part One What is Bee Pollen?
While most people recognize the term bee pollen, many people do not know what bee pollen actually is or what it has to offer. Bee Pollen is one of nature¹s unique and most powerful foods. It is flower pollen that bees collect for food. Bee pollen offers a treasure trove of special plant nutrients. Here are some of the qualities that make Bee Pollen unique:
1. The nutrients found in Bee Pollen are extremely high quality. Not only does bee pollen contain high quality nutrients that can be burned as fuel, it also provides nutrients that are helpful in maintaining and promoting health.
2. The nutritional makeup of Bee Pollen is extremely broad spectrum. The wide range of nutrients found in Bee Pollen include polyphenols, enzymes, beneficial fatty acids, free amino acids, vitamin complexes, chelated minerals and trace elements, as well as a large array of phytonutrients that have yet to be identified. This nutritional diversity makes Bee Pollen an ideal dietary supplement as a complement and boost to a well-rounded diet.
3. The nutrients in Bee Pollen are very concentrated. This nutritional density means that even small amounts provide effective and valuable levels of important nutrients. In other words, bee pollen, as a food source or as a supplement, provides low volume, but high intensity, nutrition.
An important question is, how did bee pollen become such a superfood? In nature, everything happens for a reason. Pollen¹s primary function is to act as the male spore in the reproductive cycle. It is not necessary for pollen to be nutritious to fulfill that duty. The reproductive spores of other plants and animals are not nutritious. So how and why did bee pollen develop into such a unique, broad-spectrum source of nutrients? To answer that question, we must first examine the relationship between flowering plants and bees, and see how that relationship evolved over time.
The Bee Propolis Story
What is Bee Propolis?
In preparing to write this article, it became apparent that the subject of propolis is as complex as the substance itself. To appreciate propolis, in modern day terms, one must realize what propolis meant to ancient cultures. To understand the significance of propolis to man, one must first understand its significance to bees. And to understand what propolis means to bees, one must understand what its raw material, tree resin, means to trees. Finally, to decipher what propolis means to science, and how propolis fits into the framework of biological science and the eco-system, we must first understand, fundamentally, the process and the goals of scientific research. We have tried to give an overview of all of these topics in this article.
Propolis in the Beehive
The word PROPOLIS is reputed to have been coined by Aristotle, from the Greek words pro (before) and polis (city), meaning, Before The City, or Defender Of The City. In his writings, Aristotle showed a remarkably accurate and detailed knowledge of bee propolis. The name, Defender Of The City², is a very appropriate term to describe the role of propolis in the beehive.
Bees use propolis to virtually encase the inside of the hive. It is used to caulk and seal every crack, and a very thin coat of propolis is spread over the surfaces of the honeycomb cells, inside and out. This is important for the prevention of infection in the honeycomb. Propolis is used to sterilize the honeycomb cells that contain the larvae, as well as the cells that store the honey and bee pollen. Propolis is also used extensively at the entrance of the hive to form an elaborate, winding tunnel. Bees literally have to crawl through a tight tunnel of propolis to enter and leave the hive. In this way, bees are cleansed of microbes as they enter the hive, and the sterility of the beehive is maintained. In fact, the beehive is the most sterile environment found in nature. The fact that this structure, located in the wild, and full of food and organisms, can be kept free of disease and infection is quite remarkable. In very real terms, propolis functions as the natural defense and immune system of the beehive.
Bees collect tree resin for propolis, just as they collect pollen and honey for food. Although it is still a matter of debate, research indicates that the chemical structure of resin is altered by the bees secretions during the collection process. Bees work the resin with their front legs, while adding saliva and beeswax to the mixture. The saliva and other secretions are catalysts for biochemical changes within the propolis. The resin is passed to their back legs for storage in their pollen sacs. Bees then transport the resin back to the hive, where it is stored or used.
Bees show definite preferences for certain species of tree resins in their collection of propolis. It appears that bees have unerringly identified the highest quality, and most appropriate raw material to use for propolis. The bees¹ secretions then transform the resin to optimize the benefits of prop
Tentang Lebah
Bicara tentang lebah maka kita akan teringat dengan sarang lebah dan cara mereka bekerja dengan baik dalam kegelapan. Mereka berkomunikasi melalui bau, getaran dan interaksi secara fisik dengan lebah lainnya dan yang lebih pen-ting, lebah dapat mengenali dan bereaksi terhadap pheromones (senyawa kimia yang dikeluarkan oleh lebah). Di alam bebas, sarang lebah memiliki sistem perlindungan yang sangat baik untuk menjaga lebah agar terhindar dari ancaman lingkungan.
Didalam sarang lebah, terdapat: Ratu lebah (queen bee)Lebah jantan (drones)Lebah Pekerja- Lebah perawat (nurse bees)- Lebah pencari (scout bees)- Lebah pengumpul (collector bees).
Fase telur (3 hari)
Sang ratu meletakkan sebutir telur di bagian dasar tiap-tiap sel. Posisi telur berada di tengah sel de-ngan salah satu ujungnya melekat pada dasar sel.
Fase Larva (6 hari)
Ketika larva menetas dari telur, selama 3 hari larva tersebut diberikan royal jelly yang diproduksi dari kelenjar yang terdapat di kepala lebah perawat.
Fase Pupa (12 hari)
Sel-sel setiap larva tersebut kemudian ditutup dengan lilin selama 12 hari. Setelah 21 hari, lebah pekerja dewasa akan menetas.
Ratu Lebah [ Queen Bee ]Disetiap sarang lebah, hanya akan terdapat satu ratu lebah diantara koloni lebah yang jumlahnya mencapai 80,000 ekor. Secara genetik, sang ratu bertanggung jawab untuk mengkontribusikan karakteristiknya pada lebah lainnya yang terdapat di sarang. Oleh karena itu, lebah yang terdapat di sarang, sudah pasti “terbentuk dari elemen dasar yang sama” dengan sang ratu lebah.
Ratu Lebah
Mengonsumsi royal jelly sepanjang hidupnya.
Hidup 40 kali lebih lama diban-dingkan lebah pekerja, kira-kira 4 hingga 6 tahun.
Tumbuh 40% lebih besar diban-dingkan lebah pekerja.
Bertelur (ribuan) setiap hari.
Aktif secara seksual
Membutuhkan 16 hari untuk berkembang
Lebah Pekerja
Mengonsumsi royal jelly hanya pada 3 hari pertama dalam fase larva.
Hanya hidup untuk beberapa minggu, rata-rata sampai dengan 50 hari.
Memiliki tubuh lebih kecil dari ratu lebah.
Tidak berproduksi/mandulTidak aktif secara seksual
Membutuhkan 21 hari untuk berkemban
Lebah Perawat [ Nurse Bee ]Lebah perawat adalah lebah pekerja yang khusus merawat ratu lebah dan anak-anaknya atau larva. Mereka bertanggung jawab untuk memproduksi royal jelly, serta memberi makan sang ratu dengan royal jelly, bee pollen dan madu.Lebah Pencari [ Scouts Bees ]Lebah pencari adalah lebah pekerja yang mencari sumber-sumber pollen, nektar dan propolis. Ketika mereka menemukan sumber makanan yang terbaik, mereka akan kembali ke sarang dan menginformasikannya kepada lebah pengumpul. Kemudian, lebah pengumpul pergi untuk mengumpulkan makanan tersebut.Lebah Pengumpul [ Collector Bees ]Ketika mengumpulkan pollen dari bunga-bunga, lebah pengumpul hanya akan mengunjungi tipe bunga yang sama hingga semua pollen habis terkumpul. Pada saat lebah mengumpulkan pollen, ia juga mencampurkannya dengan sedikit madu dari mulutnya dan kemudian membentuk gumpalan pollen yang akan disimpan dalam kantong yang terdapat di kaki lebah.Fakta menarik ! Peternak lebah menaruh alat yang dinamakan “pollen trap/jebakan pollen” disekeliling jalan masuk sarang lebah. Jebakan pollen ini terdiri dari beberapa baris kawat halus yang bertujuan untuk mempersempit jalan masuk para lebah sehingga membuat sebagian gumpalan pollen yang tersimpan di kaki lebah terjatuh. Setelah jumlah pollen telah cukup terkumpul, para peternak akan memindahkan jaring tersebut ke sarang lebah lain secara periodik.Lebah pengumpul menghisap nektar dari bunga-bunga dengan lidah mereka yang panjang. Mereka hanya mengunjungi bunga dari spesies yang sama dalam satu putaran pengumpulan, untuk memastikan bahwa nektar yang dikumpulkan berasal dari satu sumber yang sama. Nektar yang terkumpul kemudian disimpan dalam sel madu yang terbuka. Sel-sel ini akan tetap terbuka hingga nektar menguap dan terbentuk cairan madu yang kental dan matang.Lebah Jantan [ Drones ]Lebah pejantan adalah satu-satunya lebah jantan yang terdapat di sarang lebah dan hanya bertugas untuk membuahi sang ratu lebah. Enam belas hari setelah ratu lebah yang baru terlahir, ia terbang ke tempat lebah jantan yang telah menunggu kedatangannya. Setelah membuahi sang ratu, lebah jantan ini kemudian mati.
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