Rosita - Bee Bread

Bee bread is an “alchemical” bee creation. Foraging bees visit a variety of flowers and in the process collect pollen grains. The bees use pollen and nectar to create the bee bread, which are rich in lactic acid bacteria (LAB) including lactobacillus species. This sticky pollen pellet which is rich in LAB is then attached to their hind legs for transport to the hive. In the beehive, the pollen pellets are packed into honeycomb cells and covered with honey.

Over a period of time, the bee bread undergoes a lactic acid fermentation which is similar to the process involved in the formation of yoghurt (and other fermented milk products) and renders the pollen more digestible. The microbial species involved in this fermentation process also have the ability to produce enzymes, vitamins, antibacterial substances, and organic acids.

The fermented bee pollen is now called “bee bread” and has a broad range of natural probiotic bacteria and enzymes. Proteins are degraded to peptides and amino acids, starches are metabolised into simple sugars, and vitamins become more bioavailable.

Bee bread is therefore characterised by a higher nutritional value than fresh pollen and is more biologically active and easily digestible due to the high content of easily digestible sugars, fats, minerals, and free amino acids. And as a result of the fermentation process, bee bread has an exceptional shelf life compared with dried or frozen pollen in which nutritional values are rapidly lost.