Garry Libby asked:

>> Bill, wouldn't the honey have to have ragweed pollen in it to help set up
>> the bodies antibodies to prevent allergic reaction? Do bees visit ragweed? I
>> think the people that aren't helped are the ones allergic to pollen that
>> honeybees don't collect, wouldn't that be a reasonable explanation?

...and Bill Truesdale replied:

> Interesting question.. are there are pollens that bees do not collect?
> My guess is there are none, since they collect any pollen like
> substances and take it back to their hives. I have seen them collect
> corn dust from my bird feeder...

But the "trace amounts" of pollen in honey is going to be from the plants
where the nectar was gathered.  It is therefore reasonable to conclude
that honey not filtered within an inch of its life will contain pollen, but
no pollens from "non-nectar" plants like ragweed or corn.

There is a growing practice of identifying nectar sources, and thus, the
legitimacy of honey, by looking at pollen grains in honey with high-powered
microscopes.  Vaughn Bryant of Texas A&M will even do this as a service
(for a fee) to food inspectors who want to verify the pedigree of substances
claimed to be honey, or beekeepers who want to be very, very certain of
their floral sources.

There is even a book one can buy with photomicrographs of various pollen
grains that acts as a "field guide to pollen" for the small number of people
with a high-tech filter or a centrifuge, a decent microscope, and far too
much time on their hands.

A pollen trap would allow one to collect pollen from plants that are
not nectar sources, but I have no idea what an allergic person would
do with the pollen pellets.  I'm not sure that eating pollen pellets or
honey would help build tolerance to something that irritates one's
breathing hardware.  As a practical example, we all eat lots of pepper
in our food, but most of us still sneeze if we get a good whiff of it.
Is there an allergist in the house?

Further complicating the issue is the fact that bees can't gather much
of the "windblown" pollens that are the most common allergens, simply
because the wind blows much of the pollen away before the bees can
get to it.  The non-windblown pollens that bees commonly collect can't
be very significant allergens, as they are not "wind carried".

All in all, I can't give too much credence to the claims that local honey
will help people with allergies, but I would never argue with someone's
reason for buying honey, because I know that honey certainly cannot hurt,
and seems to have a good anecdotal track record, even if the only effect
is that of a placebo.

It looks like pollen may be all I get as a "fall crop".  The drought in VA is
so bad that I went to EAS 2002, then spent the following week vacationing,
and came back to a lawn that needed no cutting.  Only rains of biblical
proportions can pull us out of this, as this is the 4th consecutive year of
what even the official experts call "drought".

It's been so dry that I saw a tree following a dog the other day!

        jim