Processing and production of propolis

Propolis is known as "the protector of human health". It has broad-spectrum bacteriostatic effect, also known as "broad-spectrum bacteriostatic agent". Propolis can remove harmful substances in the blood, reduce blood viscosity, effectively prevent and treat cardiovascular diseases, and is also known as the "blood scavenger": propolis has a killing effect on cancer cells, known as "the gospel of cancer patients": there is also an obvious hypoglycemic effect, which can effectively treat diabetes and its complications, also known as "the nemesis of diabetes". However, each colony produces less glue (about 300 grams), and Chinese bees do not pick glue, so people regard propolis as "purple gold".

Naturally, propolis is collected from plant buds and mixed with worker bee secretions to fill gaps in the hive, strengthen the spleen and prevent the growth of bacteria in the hive. In the production of beekeeping, it often brings inconvenience to operators. In the past, propolis was regarded as waste and did not be produced and utilized. With the deepening of research, propolis has become another important product dedicated to human beings by bees.

Propolis can be produced all the year round, but the main production season is summer and autumn. This is related to the population potential of bee colony, bee species (Chinese bee does not produce gum), glue source plants (mainly poplar produce more gum) and other factors. At present, the method of collecting glue in a beehive is to check the bee colony, remove it with a scraper from the cloth, nest frame, fence and gap, knead it into a ball, wrap it in a plastic bag, and accumulate a little, or soak the cloth in alcohol to extract the propolis. In recent years, according to the glue-picking habits of honeybees, grille and nest door glue collectors specially used to produce propolis have been developed, and the output of propolis can be doubled.

The grid rubber collector is a grid composed of parallel strips of wood, which is composed of two movable parts, with a shaft connected to make one part of the lath bite in the seam of the other. The length of the longitudinal and transverse slats depends on the position of the grid rubber collector in the beehive. After the bees fill the gaps in the grille with propolis, they take out the grille and scrape the propolis. The grid rubber collector is easy to make and can be used for a long time.

The nest door glue collector is a kind of glue harvesting tool used in the honey season. According to the width and length of the nest door, use slats or bamboo strips to separate multiple gaps with a width of 3 mm to 5 mm (leaving the nest door for bees to enter and leave). When picking glue, it is directly stuck at the door of the nest, and after the gap is filled by bees, it can be removed and the propolis can be scraped off.

The production of propolis must pay attention to the following points: ① usually check the colony, pay attention to the collection of propolis, add up. When scraping propolis, ② must not mix impurities, wax, bee corpses and sawdust with propolis to affect the purchase grade of propolis. After ③ gets propolis, be sure to wrap it in a plastic bag and put it in a cool place. You can't expose it to the sun. When using a grid glue collector, ④ should not be inserted in the middle of the hive and spleen of the colony. Propolis collected by ⑤ should be sold in time.