Royal jelly is a common health food in daily life, especially among the elderly. Many people do not know that royal jelly is actually a preparation made from bee milk. People are accustomed to calling it royal jelly, so many people do not know when it comes to bee milk, but when it comes to royal jelly, they all know. Because the collection process of bee milk is complex and the cost is high, there are often adulterated bee milk on the market. So what is bee milk? How to distinguish the authenticity of bee milk? Let's take a look together.
1. What is Bee Milk
Bee milk is a traditional Chinese medicine material, it is a milky white gelatinous substance secreted by the pharyngeal gland and posterior gland of young worker bees. This gelatinous substance is highly nutritious and has immune function and contains a high level of longevity factors. Young worker bees continuously secrete bee milk and supply it to the larvae that are about to become queens, which is the lifelong food of the queen bee. Compared with the lifespan of 1-6 months of other bees, the queen bee, which has been eating bee milk all the time, can live up to 7 years, which is enough to see the powerful effect of the longevity factor contained in bee milk.
Bee milk has the effects of nourishing, strengthening, nourishing the liver, and invigorating the spleen. It is often used for post-illness weakness, malnutrition in children, senile physical decline, leukopenia, protracted and chronic hepatitis, duodenal ulcer, rheumatoid arthritis, hypertension, diabetes, functional uterine bleeding and infertility. At the same time, bee milk can also be used as an adjuvant therapy for cancer.
2. Processing of Bee Milk
1. Collection and processing
The collection of bee milk should be carried out 48-72 hours after the transfer of the larvae. Check the milk-producing colony. If the wax cup has been transformed from worker bees to queen cells and the larvae inside have grown up, it can be used for milking. The milking should be done in a clean indoor environment, wearing work clothes and masks. First remove the comb strips, use tweezers to remove the larvae, and then dig out the bee milk and immediately put it into a brown glass bottle, seal it, and refrigerate it at low temperature.
2. Processing method
Take the raw materials, remove impurities, and store them in a cool and dry container.
3. Distinguishing the Authenticity of Bee Milk
1. Natural adulteration
Refers to the non-artificial mixing of some non-bee milk substances during the collection process of bee milk.
(1) Larvae: The whole larvae can be observed by the naked eye, and the larval tissue can be examined by microscope smears.
(2) Wax pieces: It is a wax yellow or white granular substance. It can be observed by the naked eye. It can also be tested by hot melting: take the granular substance, burn it with a match, and the one that can dissolve quickly is wax.
2. Artificial adulteration
Refers to the deliberate mixing of some non-bee milk substances into bee milk during or after the collection of bee milk.
(1) Water adulteration: Bee milk mixed with water is thin and light in texture. After shaking and placing, the water layer and the bee milk layer are easy to separate. The upper layer is the water layer, which resembles rice washing water. It can be determined quickly by water content measurement. The water content is greater than 70%.
(2) Milk adulteration: There are traces of stirring, and there is a milky smell when sniffing.
(3) Starch adulteration: There are traces of stirring, and there is a small granular touch when grinding by hand. The iodine test solution turns blue, green, or reddish-brown.
(4) Honey adulteration: Sometimes there are traces of stirring, and there is a sweet taste when tasted. The Fehling's reagent test shows red or reddish-brown.
Because bee milk is rich in nutrients and has powerful anti-aging and health benefits, the bee milk on the market is mainly used for health care in the elderly. Therefore, many people take advantage of the idea of the elderly pursuing longevity and health, and adulterate bee milk to make profits. Therefore, it is important to learn how to distinguish whether bee milk is adulterated or not.
