What’s Bee Bread? Can I Have a Slice?

Unfortunately, bee bread is not what it sounds like. It does not resemble a typical piece of sandwich bread; instead bee bread is the fermented mixture of pollen and nectar or honey that bees produce in cells. 

Bee bread is made for consumption by worker bees and larvae, and it is one of their main food sources. The composition of bee bread is dependent on multiple things such as the flowers bees forage on, the season, the location, and even the time of day. 

Research has found that bee bread has many nutritious and medicinal properties, and that its average makeup contains simple sugars, proteins, minerals and vitamins, fatty acids, and other elements like fungi particles. “Ambrosia” and “bee pollen” are other common names for bee bread.

The creation of bee bread begins with forager bees. After collecting pollen, they unload it into the open cells in the hive. Then, mid-age bees pack the pollen into the cell, pushing out the air, while adding more nectar, honey, and granular secretions which will make it more nutritional. Other foragers then place additional pollen on top of the already packed pollen, which creates the layers seen in the picture to the right. Pollen from different sources creates a more nutritional bee bread. After the cell is three quarters of the way full, the bees fill the rest with honey and seal it with a layer of wax where it then ferments into bee bread in a couple of months.

In an article by KQED, the writer says “Young adult female bees distribute the stored pollen [bee bread] to the whole colony. They eat bee bread to make a liquid food similar to mammal’s milk that they feed to growing larvae and adult bees, including the queen. They also give little bits of bee bread to older larvae.”

Identifying bee pollen in the frames of a hive can be tricky. Pollen is usually placed right above to the brood nest, since they feed on it as a source of protein, and right below the honey cells. Most beekeepers are familiar with this pattern: brood, pollen, honey. The bee bread cells will appear darker than cells containing honey. 
A lot of research has been conducted to determine the different properties of bee bread and how it could be useful to humans. One study conducted on a Moroccan bee bread found that it had antioxidant properties successful against all the bacteria and fungi that was tested. It was also found to have a large amount of protein, free sugars, macro and microelements, polyunsaturated fatty acids, and tocopherols in addition to natural antioxidants. In addition, bee bread from specific pollen sources has been linked to certain therapeutic properties.