Douce Brise Apiary - Les Avants
Bee bread
What is it???
Bees bring pollen back to the hive. It's their source of protein, plant-based, which they collect from flowers. They bring it back in the form of small balls, which they carry in small baskets on their hind legs. Pollen is already a magnificent food. But that's not all!
Once harvested, they enrich it with precious enzymes and nectar, making a kind of paste that they then compact at the bottom of the cells. There, lactic fermentation takes place for two weeks. This is what we call bee bread.
Bee bread is concentrated pollen, enriched with nectar and enzymes. It is lightly fermented, much like bread with yeast, and has all the makings of a SUPERFOOD.
Its composition is simply magnificent! It essentially contains proteins (from 5 to 27% depending on the floral origin), vitamins (A, D, E, C, K, B complex), ferments, minerals, and above all, something very rare, all 20 existing amino acids, the essential ones (those the body needs but cannot produce on its own) and the non-essential ones (those the body is capable of producing).
For bees, it is the precious source that allows them to feed the young larvae and produce royal jelly, so important in the colony, especially for the queen. For humans, when harvested with care and respect for the bees, it has all the makings of a superfood.