Bee pollen is one of the most fascinating foods produced by honeybees.
Made from tiny grains of flower pollen collected by bees and formed into small pellets, bee pollen naturally contains a remarkably complex mixture of nutrients and plant compounds.
But there's also plenty of exaggerated information surrounding it.
So what exactly is bee pollen? What does it contain? How do you eat it? And what should you look for when buying it?
Here's what we know.
What Is Bee Pollen?
Honeybees collect microscopic pollen grains while visiting flowers.
They combine the pollen with small amounts of nectar and bee secretions, forming the small pellets you sometimes see packed onto their hind legs.
The bees carry these pellets back to the hive as an important food source for the colony.
Beekeepers can collect a portion of this pollen as the bees return to the hive.
The result is the food we know as bee pollen.
If you'd like to understand the process in more detail, read What Is Bee Pollen & How Do Bees Make It?.
What Does Bee Pollen Contain?
Bee pollen is nutritionally complex.
Scientific research has identified a wide range of naturally occurring components including proteins, amino acids, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals and plant compounds such as phenolics and flavonoids.
The exact nutritional composition varies depending on the plants the bees have visited.
That means bee pollen isn't a manufactured supplement with an identical formula in every batch. It's a natural agricultural food whose composition reflects its botanical origin, location and season.
You can explore this in more detail in Bee Pollen Benefits: What Does It Actually Contain?.
What Does Bee Pollen Taste Like?
Bee pollen has a distinctive natural flavour.
It can be slightly sweet, floral and earthy, with the exact flavour changing according to the flowers the bees have visited.
The small pollen granules also add a little texture when sprinkled over food.
How Do You Eat Bee Pollen?
One of the easiest things about bee pollen is how simple it is to use.
You can sprinkle it over yoghurt, cereal or fruit, blend it into smoothies, combine it with honey or simply eat the granules as they are.
There's no complicated preparation required.
For some easy ideas, read How to Eat Bee Pollen: Simple Ways to Add It to Your Diet.
Does Bee Pollen Quality Matter?
Absolutely.
Bee pollen is a natural food, and how it is harvested, cleaned, processed and stored can influence the quality of the finished product.
Freshly collected pollen naturally contains moisture, so appropriate processing is important for stability and storage.
Cleaning and screening are also important for producing a clean finished food.
At Dinkum Honey, our pollen is carefully processed to preserve the natural goodness of the pollen.
If you're comparing different products, read How to Choose Good Quality Bee Pollen: What Actually Matters?.
What About Bee Pollen and Hay Fever?
Bee pollen is a popular natural home remedy during hay fever season, and many people who use it will attest that they feel it helps with their symptoms.
At present, however, there isn't strong scientific evidence proving that eating bee pollen reduces hay fever symptoms.
So we think it's important to separate personal experience from established science.
There's also a common belief that bee pollen must come from your immediate local area to be useful.
There isn't good evidence supporting that claim either.
Simply being collected locally doesn't guarantee that the pollen contains the particular airborne allergens affecting an individual.
We've looked at this question properly in Bee Pollen & Hay Fever: Does It Help and Does It Need to Be Local?.
How Do You Choose Good Bee Pollen?
Rather than relying on marketing buzzwords, look at how the pollen has actually been produced.
Good bee pollen should be harvested appropriately, properly cleaned and screened, carefully processed and stored correctly.
Traceability matters too.
Knowing where your pollen comes from and who produced it gives you much more useful information than fashionable terms on the front of a packet.
Western Australian Bee Pollen From Dinkum Honey
Dinkum Honey is a family-owned Western Australian beekeeping business.
Our bee pollen comes directly from our beekeeping operation and is predominantly collected from Western Australian eucalyptus flora.
We carefully handle, clean and process our pollen before packing it for our customers.
It's available in 250g, 500g and 800g resealable pouches.
If you're looking for quality Australian bee pollen with genuine traceability back to the beekeepers producing it, shop Dinkum Honey Bee Pollen here.
Important: Bee pollen can cause severe allergic reactions.