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Rob Campbell the Smojoe now sells honeybee propolis right on the company blog. This is the real thing, scraped off the hives of Campbell’s honey in the summer of 2009 by yours truly. Eager to learn more about the stuff, I researched it, and have filed a detailed report here on this blog.

While extracting white clover honey from comb frames at Campbell’s Honey in Warkworth Ontario this summer, the third son of the beekeeper collected 2 kgs of genuine Canadian bee propolis from empty honey supers using nothing more than a metal hive tool.

Would you like to buy 100g of this exotic substance for $15 US + $10 shipping?

What is Bee Propolis?

Propolis is a dark brown sticky substance that honeybees use to hold their hives together. Some colonies make so much of this gum it’s hard to pry the hives apart, or lift heavy supers off metal or plastic queen excluders. Propolis sticks to everything, and honeybees use it to hold everything together.

Is honeybee propolis good for you?

Who knows? … But propolis is definitely good for honeybees. The substance stops drafts, insulates the brood chambers and sanitizes the bee’s tiny feet as they walk about their home. The pine resin and other vegetable compounds in propolis give the gum special germ killing powers. Scientific research shows propolis has antiseptic, antibiotic, antibacterial, anti-fungal and even antiviral properties.

Canadian beekeeper once told me that he once found a dead mouse completely entombed in propolis inside a healthy hive. He believes the honey bees protected themselves from disease by stopping the decomposition of the dead animal, which was too big to move. The mummification of small animals fascinated ancient Egyptians, who reputedly still use bee propolis in a wide variety of natural remedies.

What is the exact composition of bee propolis?

The sticky recipe and components for honeybee propolis are different all over the world. Indeed they are different from hive to hive inside the same beeyard. That’s because honeybees just use whatever they have available, from a variety of different plants, throughout three different growing seasons (here in Canada).

One thing we can all agree on however is that propolis is made by mixing beeswax (and other honeybee glandular secretions) with resins from the buds of conifer and poplar trees. Worker bees gather sticky natural substances from trees, especially pine gum and other plant resins using their mandibles. They pack bits of gum and tree resin into their corbiculae (pollen baskets) on her hind legs. Each of the 100mg units represents months of work.

Beware Chinese bee propolis

It’s a fact that sometimes bees collect man made material too, and use inorganic material the same way they would combine natural resins with their beeswax.

Some experts have suggested that Chinese bee propolis contains measurable amounts of paint, road tar and furniture varnish, all of which might have been collected naturally and added to the product by the honeybees themselves. Their product is unsafe due to availability of toxic pollutants in the south Asian ecosystem.

How is propolis harvested in Canada?

Bee propolis is not something that’s regularly collected at Campbell’s Honey, and to my knowledge it’s not something that’s ever been made widely available to the public before last decade. In the past couple of years however there has been a renewed interest in almost all beekeeping bi products because of their alleged medical properties.

Curious to learn and share my research and information about this natural substance, I scraped the hard and crumbly deposits from the tops of the super boxes while working in the honey house. I made a special pile of propolis atop the hoist as I unloaded individual honey frames into the stainless steel uncapper machine central to the extracting room.

Check out this chunk that I left out in the sun by accident. That’s a chip of hard propolis that once filled a crack between two honey supers. The heat has brought puddles of oily resin to the surface. The tree gum orange portion on top of picture was inside the hive, while the hard brittle bottom part of this flat chip faced the outside.

What is bee propolis used for today?

Bee propolis is used in the manufacture of some medicinal chewing gums * will research, cosmetics, creams, lozenges and topical ointments. There was a story in the paper about propolis being investigated as a dental sealant and tooth enamel hardener.

Acording to some reputable websites (smojoe cant decide who to link to here yet*) there are a number of studies have tested its effectiveness in humans and animals as a treatment for burns, minor wounds, infections, inflammatory diseases, dental pain, and even genital herpes. Successful results were achieved for many conditions including some throat cancers, infection of the urinary tract, gout, and sinus congestion

It’s been used to treat influenza, bronchitis, gastritis, and diseases of the ears. There is some case history for periodontal disease including bile infections and intestinal infections. It’s listed as a treatment for ulcers and eczema, and even pneumonia.

How is bee propolis prepared and used as medicine?

Andrew Weil, M.D. recommends using bee propolis as a topical treatment for uncomplicated wounds, and as a gargle (or in spray form) to treat irritations in the mouth. He writes that he uses propolis in tincture form to treat canker sores and even sore throats.