TIPS ON PROPOLIS

Our best expert in the biochemistry of propolis, that the European type of propolis from polar and birches is made by our Mother-Nature to protect the buds and barks against water, so it is not made to be water soluble.  As indeed, there are some good compounds that are water soluble, even in this type of propolis.

It is useful to try to make a propolis water extract from fresh raw propolis.  Here are some ways to make a mini-propolis "spontaneous" water extract.

Steps to be followed:

- get fresh, raw propolis; cut it in very small slices (like cutting onion); keep these small slices in water + lemon juice for about 4-5 hours; after 4-5 hours drink the lemon juice-water, together with some honey; the rest of the propolis that was not solved in the water, can be chewed, in small portions, for a long time, with patience, at least 1-2 hours; if it is chewed slowly, even the most "non-soluble" propolis can be "micro-triturated" in our mouth and diluted in our saliva; if the chewing process becomes too boring (too long), there are a few ways to fasten the process:

- chew the remaining propolis together with some pollen (one teaspoon will be enough); as we all know, a pellet of bee pollen is made out of up to 10,000 micro cells having a very hard outer shell (the exine); chewing propolis together with bee pollen is like chewing propolis with ...sand.  With this very simple method, the remaining propolis will be cut, before swallowing, in thousands of micro-parts.  Before swallowing the propolis-pea/walnuts or the propolis-pollen mixture, one can take a happy smile (!) a mouth full of red wine that contains enough alcohol to make a "spontaneous" propolis tincture; it is true that the alcohol extract will be not as strong as the one made in the pharmacy, with 70-90% alcohol, but the advantage is that is it easier to be taken, before going to sleep.  If you do not wish to take with red wine you can use instead a drink rich in vegetal or animal fats, like olive oil or yogurt.

As the stomach acid can break many substances from our foods, including some parts from the propolis, it is better to use the above methods about 30 minutes before meals. 

It is important to note that besides the European/North American/Chinese/Korean/A Argentinean, etc., type of propolis (coming mainly from Poplars and Birches) there is in Brazil another type of propolis coming from a bush named "Bacharis dracunculifolia".  The Africanized bees are literally cutting the tips of the buds of Bacharis so their propolis contains complete vegetal tissues and not only the exudates that are covering the external parts of the buds from poplars or birches.  So, the Bacharis (green) propolis contains the membranes, cytoplasm and nucleus of the vegetal cells; these vegetal structures have much more water soluble substances than our poplar or birch propolis, so they are better in getting deep inside the cells of the treated patients.