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Date: | Tue, 7 Aug 2001 17:52:57 +1200 |
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Mark=20 wrote:
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>We never dried any of our pollen. We ran it through a seed cleaner and =
>then picked it clean with tweezers. It went directly into the freezer. =
>We vaccuum sealed it and sold it to the local Hawaiian health food =
>stores for $12.95 a pound! It was a money-maker.
Without looking up the standards such as they are, I would
deprecate this method.
Lloyd may well be right that there's such a thing as overdrying, but there
sure is under-drying. Wouldn't it be best to dry the pollen before
packaging, so that when opened the packed pollen will be less likely to
moulder? I like the fungus kingdom, but some of them are killers.
Horizontal gauze racks about a yard square over an electric heater
I've seen in commercial drying. The attic under an ordinary 'tin' roof is
at 30 - 55 Celsius in spring, summer & autumn days in my temperate climate.
Given suitable ventilation, such an attic is the basis for drying a LOT
of pollen. But I haven't tried it; and the depredations of varroa may
prevent my doing so for the indefinite future.
Anyhow, I reckon pollen should be dried before distribution.
R
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Robt Mann
consultant ecologist
P O Box 28878 Remuera, Auckland 1005, New Zealand
(9) 524 2949
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