Processing pollen

alfred · August 18, 2010, 01:20:59 PM

So I just began collecting Pollen with my sundance 2 top mounted pollen trap which I must say works very nicely. Of course I have no other trap to compare it too..

I am wondering how to prepare it for shipping? I want to send some to freinds and then maybe in the future sell some of it. Right now I am just keeping what I have collected in a baggie in the refrigerator and I figured that eventually I would keep some of it frozen. But that won't work if I am going to ship it somewhere. I don't want it to spoil or lose any nutritional value.

AllenF · August 18, 2010, 04:45:07 PM

You can freeze it for the long term. But you have to keep it dry all the time. Dry it when you bring it home. You can bottle it as soon as you collect it for the market.

alfred · August 18, 2010, 09:13:02 PM

How do I dry it? I have read that I don't want to heat it it it loses a lot of it's nutritional value.

AllenF · August 18, 2010, 09:15:10 PM

Pollen dryer. or a food dehydrator will work. Look at the bee catalog companies under pollen dryers. Pollen will mold up real fast.

beee farmer · August 19, 2010, 01:59:48 AM

Clean your pollen well (coffee can a bucket and a box fan) then use a cheap food dehydrator to dry it if you want to ship or dry store it. I usualy just keep mine frozen till needed. If it drew moisture in the freezer I just spread it out on a cookie sheet and sun dry it or a couple hours.

AliciaH · August 19, 2010, 02:14:37 PM

I hope it's okay to jump in here, Alfred, not trying to hijack your question, but I have one of my own, too:

How high does the temperature need to be when heating the pollen for it to start losing it's nutritional value? The reason I ask is because when I collected pollen last year, I spread it out on a cookie sheet and placed it in the oven with the light on. The oven wasn't hot that way, but the light bulb heated the area enough to dry the pollen before I froze it. Just wondering if 85-90 degrees is too hot?

hardwood · August 19, 2010, 02:53:43 PM

Alicia, The pollen in the hive is around 94 so I doubt you over heated it.

Scott

AliciaH · August 19, 2010, 03:04:41 PM

Thanks, Scott, you are right, of course! I try not to have too many "duh" moments, but some days I swear it takes longer for the coffee to kick in!

The oven light works great, by the way! The hard part was training the family to look inside the oven before they preheat it for pizza!

alfred · August 19, 2010, 08:07:43 PM

I have no idea on the heat issue. I have just heard that heating it reduces it's value. Even drying it supposedly does.

I will say that with this top mounted pollen trap that I got I don't need to clean the pollen it has been totaly clean coming right out of the trap.

AllenF · August 19, 2010, 08:57:27 PM

On cleaning the pollen, do you have SHB in your area?

beee farmer · August 19, 2010, 10:36:54 PM

Quote from: AllenF on August 19, 2010, 08:57:27 PM
On cleaning the pollen, do you have SHB in your area?

Yeppers, thats one of the reasons it so important to clean it and freeze before trying to dry it, I run it through the fan treatment again after drying to remove anything that might have gotten by the first time.

alfred · August 20, 2010, 09:57:39 AM

No I don't think we do. I don't even know what SHB look like! I'm not sure that it would matter with the top mounted trap, but like I said I have no experience with SHB or their habits.

L Daxon · August 20, 2010, 10:37:48 AM

Alfred,

Dumb question here. If you have a top hive pollen trap, does that mean you eliminate the bottom entrance? I had a bottom entrance pollen trap decades ago that worked fine but can't visualize how the top trap would work. My girls seem to be collecting way too much pollen so wouldn't mind slowing down their stores, plus having my own pollen again.

alfred · August 20, 2010, 04:15:43 PM

Yes, I use all top entrances anyway, so it wasn't a big deal for me.