The most widespread product of the bee is honey, however there are other products of the hive such as pollen, royal jelly, propolis, wax and venom.
The honey is an aromatic, sweet, thick natural product, produced by bees by collecting pollen, nectar and natural secretions of living plants, with a complex composition and ingredients that affect its organoleptic characteristics as well as its nutritional value. More than 12 categories of substances are included in natural honey, the content of which determines the characteristics of the product. Beyond its value as food, it has properties beneficial to the human body.
Thyme, Orange, Sunflower, Ereiki (soussourisio), Chestnut, Vamvakiou, Polykombo, Acacia, Pefkomelo, Elati etc.
Pollen is food rich in vitamins, proteins, amino acids, hormones, enzymes, etc. and has great nutritional value both for the bee itself and for humans. Bees collect pollen from various flowers and carry it to the hive with their hind legs.
Royal jelly is secreted by the pharyngeal glands of worker bees and is a creamy substance intended for the nutrition of the queen and all the incomplete stages of the bee, that is why it is called bee milk. It is food rich in amino acids, vitamins, minerals, lipids and proteins.
Propolis is a resinous, sticky substance that bees collect from the buds of various plants, tree trunks, resins, etc., enrich it with wax, pollen, enzymes and other substances, in order to use it for the hygiene and sterilization of the hive .
Wax is secreted into scales by the bee's waxy glands located on its thorax and it is molded with its legs and jaws to build the honeycomb. The most important areas of use of beeswax are the production of cosmetics, candles and honeycomb sheets.
Bee venom is a complex mixture of chemicals, exerting a medicinal effect and affecting the physiology of an organism. It contains antibiotic substances, enzymes, cystine, mineral substances, organic acids, peptides, proteins and formic acid.
The chemical analysis of honey is, beyond the identity of a type of honey, an important indicator of quality.
The following control parameters in honey, regarding its authenticity, freshness and nutritional value, are often monitored in honey and provide us with the following information:
- Electrical conductivity
- Refractive index
- Sugar profile
- Reducing sugars and sucrose
- HMF
- Ph and acidity
- Humidity
- Proteins
- Ashes
- Cells
- Energy value
- Gyroscopic analysis
- Dimension indicator
- Vitamins
- Amino acids
- Determination of drug residues
- Identification of acaricides
- Determination of p-dichlorobenzene, naphthalene, dibromoethene
- Determination of antibiotics
- Determination of heavy metals
- Identification of toxins
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