Quick delicious breakfast smoothie for Daniel this morning. I asked him “Do you know what the yellow things are on top?”. He responded “Ah…nutritional yeast flakes? (he saw my previous post on zucchini chips)”. Nope, it was bee pollen? What the heck is that?
Bee Pollen is made by honeybees, and is the food of the young bee. It is important to recognize that a one teaspoon dose of pollen takes one bee working eight hours a day for one month to gather. Each bee pollen pellet, contains over two million flower pollen grains and one teaspoonful contains over 2.5 billion grains of flower pollen. Aren’t we so cruel stealing these goodness from poor bees >.<
So what is good about these yellow granules? Bee pollen is a complete food and contains many elements that products of animal origin do not possess. Bee pollen is more rich in proteins than any animal source. It contains more amino acids than beef, eggs, or cheese of equal weight. About half of its protein is in the form of free amino acids that are ready to be used directly by the body. It’s good for your skin, energy level, immune system, skin and digestive system. It’s also thought that ingesting pollens will help the body to build resistance to these potential allergens and, in turn, reduce allergy symptoms. However, if you have a pollen allergy, you need to be cautious since it can lead to potentially life-threatening anaphylaxis.
Bee pollen has a sweet powdery, floral taste. Pollen stored in a cool dark place should keep for a year. I bought a little jar from Bee house in Swan Valley for the first time. Then I’ve ordered a big batch from on-line health shop, which last me for a while. You only take a teaspoon at a time over your breakfast cereal, yogurt, smoothie, or just by itself.
To make this smoothie, I blended a cheek of mango, 3 medjool dates, a cup of milk, a teaspoon of maca powder (another stamina enhancer! I will get to that next time) and a teaspoon of bee pollen. If you don’t like milk, replace with non-dairy drinks or coconut milk or coconut water. Beautiful tropical flavour!
