Bee pollen

Honeybee with pollen baskets
A pollen trap
Fresh bee pollen
Frozen bee pollen, a human food supplement
Bee bread: the bee pollen stored in the combs

Bee pollen, also known as bee bread and ambrosia,[1] is a ball or pellet of field-gathered flower pollen packed by worker honeybees, and used as the primary food source for the hive. It consists of simple sugars, protein, minerals and vitamins, fatty acids, and a small percentage of other components. Bee pollen is stored in brood cells, mixed with saliva, and sealed with a drop of honey.[2] Bee pollen is harvested as food for humans and marketed as having various, but yet unproven, health benefits.[3]

  1. ^ Oxford Canadian Dictionary
  2. ^ Gilliam, Martha (1979). "Microbiology of pollen and bee bread: the yeasts". Apidologie. 10: 45–53. doi:10.1051/apido:19790106.
  3. ^ Denisow, Bożena; Denisow-Pietrzyk, Marta (2016-10-01). "Biological and therapeutic properties of bee pollen: a review". Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 96 (13): 4303–4309. Bibcode:2016JSFA...96.4303D. doi:10.1002/jsfa.7729. ISSN 1097-0010. PMID 27013064.