What is royal jelly?

The name already indicates something royal and so it is with this special bee product. The bees produce royal jelly in the beehive, primarily for the queen bee, the royal food of the queen bee. Another name for this royal bee product is"royal jelly".

The word "royal jelly" comes from the English and means "royal jelly". This bee product looks very similar to honey. The raw material is honey, pollen and certain bee secretions. It sounds relatively uninteresting, but its significance lies in the fact that this special bee product is primarily reserved for the queen bee. The worker bees, especially the young nurse bees, produce a light yellowish forage juice in both head glands.

Royal jelly from the flower to the queen bee

This bee food, like all other bee products, has a long journey behind it. The raw material is needed so that the worker bees or young nurse bees (6-12 days old) can produce the royal jelly. As a basis, the worker bees help themselves to honey and flower pollen and process these in their special glands together with the secretion to produce royal jelly (also known as royal jelly). The nurse bees feed all the bee larvae with the resulting bee product for about three days, the royal bee larvae and the queen bee for the rest of their lives. The bees' secretions contain many enzymes and nutrients that are particularly important for the queen bee. When the larvae are fed, you can already observe how they grow in size. This is also the case with the queen bee: not only is her growth promoted, but also her weight and fertility. The fertility of the queen plays a major role in the bee colony, as she is the one who can lay between 2,000 and 3,000 eggs in one day to increase the size of her colony. It is very important to lay many eggs, as a normal worker bee dies after just a few weeks. The queen, on the other hand, lives on in the same hive for up to five years and keeps her colony together.

The royal jelly is produced by the bees from April to August. As the queen cells are broken down, they are collected in the brood chambers. The nurse bees and worker bees are encouraged to continue production and so they collect royal jelly for the honeycombs, the larvae and above all for the queen.

The extraction of royal jelly

Due to the constant use of royal jelly by bees, its extraction is very time-consuming. Beekeepers rely on the bees' natural reproductive instinct to ensure that this bee product can be extracted without any problems. An artificial cell (beeswax shells) is placed in the beehive. The nurse bees add royal jelly to these wax shells as they regard them as queen larvae. The cell frame is removed from the hive about three days later. Within this time, the largest quantity of high-quality royal jelly has been produced by the nurse bees. The larvae in the wax shells are removed and the existing royal jelly can be easily harvested using a special extraction device. The beekeeper can harvest around 200 - 500 mg of royal jelly from a queen cell. Each bee colony produces up to 600 grams of royal jelly per year.
After harvesting, the royal jelly is passed through a sieve to remove any coarse residue and then placed in jars to be stored frozen. It is cooled down to minus two degrees and in a vacuum the bee product can increase its effectiveness by dissolving certain chemical chains through cooling.

It is interesting to see how, despite the same genetics and anatomy, the queen bee differs from the worker bees. The only difference is the food juice, while the worker bees feed on honey, the queen bee is fed exclusively on royal jelly throughout her life. But what is in royal jelly? What are the ingredients of this bee product?

The ingredients of royal jelly

Every bee product contains important ingredients. In chemistry, royal jelly is regarded as an emulsion consisting mainly of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The bees add their special enzymes to the honey and pollen, which are rich in various vitamins, through the secretion. As with propolis, the composition and richness of the substances can vary.

The approximate composition of the ingredients can be summarized as follows:

50 - 70% water

10 - 18% proteins

10 - 15% sugar

approx. 6% fats

approx. 3% vitamins

10-hydroxydecenoic acid (10-HDA), 4-hydroxybenzoic acid methyl ester, lipids, trace elements, amino acids

The organic substances are trace elements, vitamins and active plant substances (secondary). Royal jelly contains the following special substances and vitamins:

Biotin

Minerals (iron, manganese, copper, zinc, selenium, potassium, magnesium)

Flavonoids (flavonoids are also known as antioxidants)

Vitamins (B group)

lipids

thiamine

Lysine, proline, cystine

Properties of royal jelly

At first glance, royal jelly resembles the well-known honey. However, it differs slightly in terms of its consistency, the active ingredients it contains and its taste. Despite the raw materials pollen and honey, it contains no sweetness; on the contrary, the taste is usually slightly bitter to sour. The queen bee's royal jelly tastes best. To make the queen bee's food more palatable for us, it can be mixed with sweet, fruity foods.

Due to its various active ingredients and minerals, royal jelly can be used in many different ways and is particularly popular in the sports sector. It is known as a natural source of energy and is used to combat loss of appetite. In addition, royal jelly is distinguished by its physical, biological, pharmacological and chemical effects . These effects and properties can have a positive and beneficial effect on humans and animals against diseases.

In alternative medicine, royal jelly is said to have a number of positive effects. In particular, it is said to help with stress, tiredness, loss of appetite, increased fertility and many menopausal symptoms. The ingredients it contains can help in these areas as well as in the regulation of blood sugar levels. According to the EU Health Claims Regulation, we cannot make any statements here about the health effects in practice. For more information, you are welcome to talk to alternative practitioners, apitherapists or doctors. The following still applies: Bee products are natural food supplements as cosmetic products and not medicine!

Royal jelly capsules:

The royal jelly capsules can be consumed practically and easily at any time. Depending on the recommended daily dose, the royal jelly capsules can be taken daily with sufficient water.

Royal jelly:

Fresh royal jelly stored in a cool place can be consumed at your own convenience, depending on the daily dose. Many people may not like the taste of royal jelly the first time, so we recommend adding it to yoghurt, muesli, smoothies or honey, mixing it well and then enjoying it. It is always important to ensure that royal jelly is stored in a cool, dry place.

It is interesting to see how royal jelly is used in many different areas nowadays, especially in the cosmetics and beauty industry. The cosmetics industry claimsthat royal jelly has an anti-ageing effect. It is considered a special "booster" in the products, so many major brands use a small amount of the royal jelly of the beein their products .

Royal jelly cream (DIY)

How about making your own royal jelly cream? With royal jelly you can easily make your own cream, free from chemical additives. You can apply the cream more generously and more easily to your skin. The basis of this cream is royal jelly and beeswax.

You need:

90 ml vegetable oil (e.g. coconut oil, olive oil, jojoba oil)
2 tbsp beeswax
2 tbsp royal jelly

Preparation of the royal jelly cream:

Place the beeswax in a bowl and melt in a water bar. As soon as it has melted, mix it with the vegetable oil of your choice (with coconut oil, please note that it is only liquid at warmer temperatures and may also need to be heated). Once the beeswax and vegetable oil have been mixed, put them to one side so that they can cool down. After cooling, the royal jelly is gradually added and mixed. (Important: Royal jelly can lose its effect when exposed to heat, as the molecular bonds of the substances can dissolve). Pour the still liquid mixture into an ointment jar or other container. Allow the mixture to rest and harden for about six hours. This royal jelly cream can be kept in the refrigerator for approx. two months.

Royal jelly from bedrop

Not only can you buy good quality organic royal jelly capsules from us, you can also buy royal jelly with a focus on sustainability and a high-quality product. The special organic royal jelly is obtained from an idyllic, rural region in Asia and Latvia. Free from any harmful influences and the bees have enough freedom to fly to the various trees and plants. We have tried to translate these positive images of the environment into our sustainable packaging. The round sleeves of our products(propolis, royal jelly) are not only sustainable, but also practical to take with you at any time without having to worry about the bottles breaking or leaking. Fresh royal jelly must be stored in a cool and dry place, we offer freeze-dried royal jelly in our royal jelly capsules. These capsules contain no chemical additives and are free from harmful additives.

Here you can buy our bedrop buy royal jelly.

List of sources:

harpersbazaar.com/beauty/gelee-royale

guerlain.com/en/skincare/by-properties/anti-aging

Book: Zittlau, Jörg (2020); "Die Heilende Kraft der Bienen"; 1st edition, Munich

Book: Dr. med Stangaciu, Stefan (2015): "Gentle healing with honey, propolis and beeswax"; 3rd edition, Stuttgart