Propolis

[psafloyd]

It was a fad at the time: there were silly prices paid for it and if I recall what O. Field said it was actually worth more to his operation than the honey crop one year.

I know that people take it on a continuous basis, but for a while it was "the" thing of the moment and I said also it was the same as royal jelly which also went through a phase. Some still swear by it most have forgotten it.

PH

My sister lives in France and uses it regularly. My mum has always been susceptible to bronchial infections but since taking it is less so and ups intake with a cold. I use occasional bit on mouth ulcers, etc, or just chew as I like it.

 

[REDWOOD]

Good stuff. excellent to gargle for sore throats. Used as a base of various organic/biodynamic treatments in the garden/orchard.

I was told this some time ago, could do with a bit now come to think of it

 

[dpearce4]

Not sure if its still available but when i worked for the now defunct Threshers we used to sell Polish pure spirit which was 79.9% pure. the propolis should desolve in this.

 

[dclewis]

Chemists in France sell small quanties of either 90% or 60% ethanol. I have found that the recommended strength for dissolving propolis is 70% ethanol. So you have the option of going away outside of the EU and buying spirits at 70% proof such as vodka or gin or mixing a 1/3rd 90% with 2/3rds 60% to get your 70% ehtanol. Then make up your tincture by 35% w/v mixture of ground clean propolis to ethanol and leave for a couple of weeks in the dark (shaking bottle daily) and strain. And you have a pretty good strong tincture of propolis. A few drops on a sugar lump every day hasn't harmed me and the missus yet! Who knows what good it has done?

 

[jackbee]

my propolis is sticky sticky, does it dry out eventually and can you tincture it sticky or dry??

 

[psafloyd]

Chemists in France sell small quanties of either 90% or 60% ethanol. I have found that the recommended strength for dissolving propolis is 70% ethanol. So you have the option of going away outside of the EU and buying spirits at 70% proof such as vodka or gin or mixing a 1/3rd 90% with 2/3rds 60% to get your 70% ehtanol. Then make up your tincture by 35% w/v mixture of ground clean propolis to ethanol and leave for a couple of weeks in the dark (shaking bottle daily) and strain. And you have a pretty good strong tincture of propolis. A few drops on a sugar lump every day hasn't harmed me and the missus yet! Who knows what good it has done?

I'm sure our Irish members could get hold of some poitín fairly easily for medicinal purposes...

 

[psafloyd]

my propolis is sticky sticky, does it dry out eventually and can you tincture it sticky or dry??

Freeze it.

 

[BeeMoustashe]

I can't help but think that drinking a 90% proof propolis tincture will create more problems than it solves

 

[Gardenbees]

I've used commercial tincture of propolis occasionally in the past. I can believe it has some antibiotic and antifungal properties, witness its usefulness in the hive. It seems particularly good as a gargle for sore throats, and it makes a pleasant toothpaste ingredient.

One of my colonies is crazy about propolising everything, and I get a tennis-ball sized lump of the stuff off the glued-up hive every time I scrape it. There's a drawback to this largesse though: bees don't make propolis with human food quality in mind. I've seen them cheerfully harvesting the tar off my neighbour's roof! Anything really strongly resinous will do, even, I'm told, new asphalt. So it's probably best treated a bit like coal tar: medicinal, but best for topical use only...

It does smell lovely, though.