Bee pollen and bee bread

Not all pollen is equally nutritious: FAO notes that some types, such as pine and eucalyptus, are insufficient even for raising honey bee larvae.

The botanical origin of bee pollen can be determined by pollen analysis under the microscope.

While honey is the colony's energy source, pollen is the bees' main source of the other important nutrients, including proteins, minerals and fats.

Campos et al. give the composition of dried bee pollen as 10 to 40 g protein and 1 to 13 g lipids per 100 g dry weight.

FAO describes stored pollen as undergoing a lactic acid fermentation that preserves it, and calls the final product beebread.

A 2014 study questioned the idea of long-term microbial predigestion, concluding that stored pollen is a preservative environment, mainly because of added honey, nectar and bee secretions, rather than being converted by microbes.

FAO says harvested pollen needs to be dried to less than 10% moisture content.

Bee pollen is flower pollen that worker honey bees agglutinate with nectar or honey and salivary substances; it is collected at the hive entrance.

Foragers carry these loads home as pellets in the pollen baskets, or corbiculae, on their hind legs.

Bee bread, or hive-stored pollen, is flower pollen mixed with nectar and stored in the comb; it is the source of proteins, lipids and minerals eaten by nurse bees.

Pollen traps strip pellets from returning foragers, but their efficiency rarely exceeds 50%.

A draft quality standard proposed by Campos et al. sets total protein at no less than 15 g/100 g and total sugars at no less than 40 g/100 g.