re: pickling as preservation at the expense of nutrition - It depends on the food being pickled.  For some foods, the pickling process frees up nutrients that are otherwise inaccessible to our digestive process.  Fermentation of soybeans may be the most common example for humans.  Or see http://www.oalib.com/paper/2132647 or https://www.pig333.com/swine_abstracts/improving-nutritional-value-of-pig-diets-by-fermentation-and-enzyme_10517/ for random examples of fermentation improving the bioavailability of nutrients in poultry and pig diets respectively.

I have no idea which, if any, pollens would be improved by fermentation.  But given the diversity of pollen types, exospore structures and the enzymes needed to crack those shells open, it would not surprise me if the nutritional content of at least some pollens was improved by making it into bee bread.

But as the research Randy cited suggests, I'd guess that any such marginal benefit would be quickly achieved in the first few days of fermentation.

Mike Rossander



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