What is a sour bee?
Acid bee, also known as stingless bee, is an insect of honeybee subfamily. Sour bees are small, generally only one-tenth the size of ordinary bees, and have no thorns. Usually, the front foot carries a sticky glue for nesting and self-defense. So it is also called sticky bee. Its honey is sweet and sour, so it is called sour bee.
Where do acid bees live:
There are more than 500 species of stingless bees distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, such as South America, Africa and Southeast Asian countries, Hainan in China and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan. Because the existence of stingless bees depends on a large area of forests, stingless bees are increasingly facing cultural, economic and ecological challenges. At the same time, the rise and fall of stingless bees has also become a reference index to reflect the local forest harvesting and biodiversity to some extent.
What is the life relationship between acid bees and Chinese bees that we are familiar with now?
Acid bees generally choose to nest under a hidden mound in the tree hole at the top of the tall primitive rainforest trees. One nest and one hole in and out. When they are attacked, they will pounce and stick the propolis balls carried by their front feet to the eyes of intruders such as black bears or wild boars, making them unable to open their eyes and forcing them to retreat. When the wasp, the natural enemy of the Chinese bee, approaches, the acid bee will attack the wasp ten times larger than it and stick its wings with propolis, making it unable to fly. Fierce wasps were forced to land one after another, losing the advantage of running wildly in the air. Therefore, China native bees often choose to live next door to places where there are sour bees. When the bee bread (pollen) of acid bees is in short supply, China native bees themselves will tighten their belts and give the saved bee bread to the acid bees. In the primeval rainforest where flowers are in full bloom, China native bees usually leave nectar with high medicinal value, such as wild Huang Lian and wild Notoginseng, for acid bees to collect, while they fly to distant forests to collect nectar, forming a unique phenomenon of * * * in the primeval rainforest valley.
What is the difference between wild honey and artificially raised honey?
The artificial breeding and industrial mass production of honey are limited by geography and climate, so it is impossible for bees to collect natural pollen 365 days a year. Therefore, in the season without pollen, breeders must feed bees with artificial feed such as white sugar to ensure the stability of honey production and the survival rate of bees. Over time, the intestines and stomach of bees will change, and the secretion of hormones will be disordered, and the quality of honey produced by them will be greatly reduced. Wild honey, on the other hand, abides by the law of survival of the fittest in nature, and spends the cold winter, species birth, hunger and even death by increasing pollen storage. This stubborn spirit makes the honey it produces have a unique flavor and different therapeutic effects.
Acid bee nest:
Tree acid beehive:
Sour honey origin:
The honey produced by the subtropical wild bee species Sour Bee is named because of its rich fruit flavor, sweet and sour taste. Sour honey is mainly produced in southwest Yunnan and distributed in Lincang, Pu 'er, Dehong and Xishuangbanna. Foreign producing areas include Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Indonesia. Among many producing areas, the subtropical rainforests in Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia are the most suitable for the growth of sour honey, so they are the main resource producing areas of sour honey. Acid bees belong to the small bee species, so the honey production is relatively low. There are many subspecies of acid bees, some nest underground, and some live in tree holes. The produced honey has different taste and quality, but it does not affect its curative effect.
Who is eating sour honey? How long is the history of eating?
As early as around 1900, there were records of acid bees in royal families, monasteries and indigenous tribes in Cambodia and Thailand, and the therapeutic value was extremely high. Because they rely entirely on manual excavation, the sources are precious and scarce, and these fine works are often limited to famous monks and indigenous tribal elders. In the process of collecting honey, acid bees give priority to collecting plant nectar with high medicinal value, so their honey is sweet, sour and delicious. Wa, Dai, Jino and other ethnic minorities living in forests generally regard sour honey as a panacea to enhance health. Thousands of years' eating experience has proved that sour honey has remarkable effects of promoting digestion, removing accumulated food, moistening intestines and relaxing bowels, clearing away heat and moistening dryness, detoxifying and calming the nerves. The old man fell asleep safely after drinking a bowl of sour water, the girl washed her face with the beautiful sour honey like a flower, and the child was lively and strong after eating a spoonful of sour honey. Dai, Hani and other ethnic minorities have a tradition of collecting sour honey, which can strengthen the body and regulate cough and stomach. Sour bees are often used as a tonic for the elderly, children, pregnant women or patients in the stockade.
Modern research on the curative effect of sour honey;
1July, 1999, the first international symposium on acid bees was held in Mexico. The draft chemical standard of sour honey was also put forward at the first special meeting of honey experts held in France. The medicinal effects of sour honey are very extensive. See table 1 for pharmacodynamics of common sour honey. As can be seen from the table, the medicinal function of sour honey involves many systems of human body, such as digestive system, respiratory system, female reproductive system, skin and external diseases. In addition to honey, pollen and beeswax obtained from acid hives are often used to treat diseases. The larvae of Melipona and Trigina have become delicious food on the table of local residents. In Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela, sour honey is often used to treat cataracts and has achieved good results (table 1).
What are the characteristics of sour honey compared with ordinary honey?
1, low concentration: due to the unique closed structure of the sour bee hive, the honey brewed by the sour bee is lower than that of other bee species;
2, fruity: the taste of sour honey is sweet and sour, similar to fruity;
3. It has a resinous smell: unlike other bee species that can secrete beeswax, the nesting material of acid bees comes from resin, so honey has a certain resinous smell.
Why are wild sour honey so scarce?
Since ancient times, it is not uncommon for wild honey to be artificially doped.
Tao Hongjing's Notes on Materia Medica: Those who come out of Tan Cliff in Jin 'an today are rich in earth and honey, and the clouds are above. There are many nectaries in the coastal areas of Dongyang. In Qianshui and Huai 'an counties, there are many caregivers such as Yami and Zamumi, and all of them have been added to the case. Those who are almost innocent must see for themselves, but they are not miscellaneous and are often cooked. Honey from Jiangnan to the west is wood honey, which contains the most impurities and cannot be used as medicine. Taoist pill bait is indispensable. The immortal side also refined it. Eternal life
It can be seen that wild honey is so scarce in China, let alone wild sour honey. Because the acid bee is a small bee species, the honey production cycle is long, generally about 3 years. In addition, the honey yield of this kind of bee colony is low, and a nest rarely exceeds one kilogram. What's more difficult is that acid bees are very vigilant. Once the hive is stolen, it will never build a nest in the vicinity of 1 km in the next three years. In addition, the subtropical rain forest has a rainy season every year, and honey can't be collected when the rainy season comes. Therefore, in a year's time, you can go to the rainforest to collect honey for less than half a year. Such a rare product is difficult for local people to collect and eat, so if it were not for my on-site supervision, the sour honey would be 100% doped.
* Dig three feet to dig a beehive;
* accidentally, the hive was dug up, but the pollen of the sour hive was still visible;
* The whole sour beehive was dug up;