At 12:35 AM 2/9/98 -0500, you wrote:
 
><see you are in the Northeast.  With our relatively high humidity, do you
>dry the pollen?
 
>        Yes indeed, I have a vented solar drier that works very well. It
>will hold three 1.5' x 2.5' screen bottom trays. It takes about 1 sunny
>day to dry the pollen to pass the pinch test (if pollen pellets pinched
>together do not adhere dry enough), real scientific huh? Pollen keeps for
>months in tightly sealed jars without molding. Pellets are not so dry
>that a hard pinch can't crumble them.
 
Hi Alden & Bee Friends,
 
Maybe I don't believe bee pollen is God's gift of food to man but I do know
from personal commercial experience producing pollen and working with
others who had commercial interests in marketing pollen a tad about how it
can be done commercially so that the pollen is acceptable to the bulk
pollen buyer and the consuming public.
 
First let me say that IMHO most who dry pollen are not selling a natural
product as even the bees would have a hard time when its that hard and much
of the food value for bees would be destroyed in just a few hours of sun or
heating.  I agree that if you live in an area of high moisture you must
take steps to preserve and protect the pollen from moisture most do this in
the construction of the trap itself, but at the same time cooked pollen is
like cooked honey and may have much local value to a large number of local
producers but certainly would not have much food value left after cooking
off those magic ingredients that are already in such minute quantizes in
natural fresh frozen pollen that so many seek in promoting pollen for human
consumption as an natural organic food supplement in the major marketing
streams.
 
> I clean my pollen whereas most who freeze instead of dry do not. I defy
anyone who does not dry >pollen to do a descent job of cleaning in any
reasonable period of time. Of course
>there are arguments for and against both freezing and drying. The few I
know in this area who trap >freeze it.
 
Again lets not paint everyone with the same brush, I have never had to dry
pollen and I have never known a commercial pollen producer who dried pollen
but I only know a few of those in the southwest, Arizona, Colorado, and
California and none had a moisture problem. The two pollen cleaning
machines I used left little for the sorters to hand pick out. I have no
idea what would cause anyone to believe that those who produce pollen in
the dry southwest or the desert areas would have any interest in drying
pollen or be less likely to do a good job cleaning their pollen before sale
then any other beekeeper trying to do a good job in preparing his pollen
for market, this just has not been my own experience working with other
pollen producers.
 
I only write this so that maybe others will figure out that there is more
then one way to produce good high quality pollen. Fresh frozen pollen can
be used in more ways then cooked or dried pollen which is important if you
sell it in bulk and just maybe we should remember there are others doing
the same good job we are doing using a different method but doing a equally
good job. I even had an interest in a pill press and the pollen could not
be as moisture free as dried pollen described above or it would not bind
into a solid pill without adding a binder.
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
 
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