Bumblebees are insects from the bee family. They are also very important pollinators. During pollination, individuals collect nectar, which is transformed into honey to feed their small family. The amount of product collected is usually small. However, bumblebee honey has many characteristics. This product contains many valuable components and brings great health benefits.
Do bumblebees make honey?
Bumblebees are no less efficient than bees and also produce healthy honey. To obtain this product, you can even make an apiary based on the bee principle.However, its productivity will be significantly lower.
Bumblebees, like bees, are characterized by a clear hierarchy. Each insect performs specific duties. Also in a bumblebee family there is a main female, who is responsible for the offspring. At the same time, most of the remaining females are workers. They collect nectar, which will later be processed into honey.
The life of a bumblebee family depends on the productivity of insects. On average, workers collect nectar from 30 flowers in 1 minute. This parameter is considered quite high, since bees are able to fly around 2 times fewer flowers in the same period of time.
Although bumblebees are more efficient, their honey reserves are much smaller. This is due to the fact that the bee family is very numerous. Therefore, large reserves are needed to feed her. In addition, bees live for more than one season. Thanks to good reserves, they can winter safely.
The bumblebee family includes 400-500 individuals. They live only 1 season. Therefore, insects store honey only for feeding growing individuals. If you place bumblebees in a hive, then from one such house you can get a maximum of 200 milliliters of nectar.
Under natural conditions, insects create nests in hollows, grass and rodent burrows. It is quite difficult to obtain a useful product from such a shelter. To do this, you first need to put on a protective suit. This is recommended to be done even if the bumblebee nectar needs to be removed from the hive.
Since bumblebees produce too little useful product, it is not profitable to breed them like bees. Therefore, few people know that bumblebees bring honey, which is just as useful as that of bees.
Composition and appearance
Bumblebee honey is considered a unique product. It is characterized by a number of features:
- in appearance it resembles liquid jam;
- the composition has a low density;
- the substance includes a variety of pollen collections.
This composition contains many minerals and amino acids. Their quantity in the bumblebee product is twice as much as in the bee product. The composition includes the following:
- proteins;
- carbohydrates;
- valuable metals.
100 grams of bumblebee honey contains 324 kilocalories. There are 38.7 kilocalories in 1 teaspoon of the product, and 96.3 kilocalories in 1 tablespoon.
Differences from bees
Bumblebee nectar is characterized by a number of features. It has a thinner consistency than the bee product and is more reminiscent of sugar syrup. The taste of the composition is not as sweet and aromatic as that of bees. At the same time, it contains many proteins and minerals. In terms of the content of valuable components, bumblebee honey is significantly superior to bee honey.
Benefits and contraindications
The product has a number of useful properties. With its help it is possible to cope with various pathologies:
- bronchial asthma;
- bronchitis;
- diseases of the digestive organs;
- liver pathologies;
- diseases of the genitourinary organs.
With the help of bumblebee honey you can get rid of dry cough. To do this, warm milk must be mixed with 1 small spoon of nectar and a small amount of butter.
The product can provoke allergic reactions, so this fact should definitely be taken into account. If your blood sugar level increases, it is also better to avoid bumblebee honey.
So, the main contraindications to the use of this substance include the following:
- allergy;
- diabetes;
- individual intolerance.
The product has virtually no side effects. Their appearance is possible only if a person does not take into account information about contraindications.
How to spot a fake
To distinguish natural bumblebee honey from a fake, it is recommended to carefully look at its appearance. The composition differs in the consistency of liquid honey. In appearance, it is more reminiscent of sugar syrup. At the same time, the composition turns out to be less sweet and aromatic than bee honey.
Storage periods and rules
It is believed that the shelf life of the product is 1 year, after which it loses its healing properties and even accumulates harmful components. However, this opinion is considered erroneous. Subject to optimal parameters and storage conditions, the composition can be stored for an unlimited period of time.
Storage of bumblebee honey is recommended at a temperature of 0…+3 degrees. If these values are exceeded, the substance will begin to oxidize. As for the container, honey should be kept in a glass container. This material does not react with honey components. At the same time, glassware does not make it possible to protect the product from sunlight. Therefore, it needs to be kept in a dark place.
