Propolis - What is it, how do I make it and what does it do?

A long time ago in a farmer's market far, far away I was asked if I had any propolis tincture.
I suspect like a lot of bee keepers all I knew about propolis was that it was, to use a technical bee keeper's phrase, 'a pain in the a.....e'
I said I would have a go but the following week the market closed and I never saw her again.
Over the coming months I was occasionally asked about it and it was noticeable the people who asked me about it were often Eastern European where using propolis as a medicinal product is very common.
Eventually I decided to have a go and thanks to Google and some trial and error came up with a method to make it.

Propolis is a sticky substance made by honey bees by mixing saliva with bees wax and tree sap, particular from Poplars and conifers.

They use it  for a variety of purposes. They use it to seal up small gaps or cracks [they fill up bigger gaps with wax comb] and also to prevent disease and keep the hive clean. They cover the walls of the hive with it and I have often read it makes a hive 'the most sterile environment in nature'.

Honey bees are so fastidious about keeping the hive clean, the photo below is of a mouse that got into a hive and was killed by the bees. As the bees couldn't get it out of the hive and the mouse would have decomposed and spread bugs and disease.  the bees mummified  it in propolis to keep things clean.

Some hives produce a lot, others don't and if a hive is untouched for a time the build up of propolis means getting it apart is very difficult. Last year I was given two hives that hadn't been looked at for a long time. The supers were so stuck down, one of them broke as I tried to get it off.

To get off its scraped with a hive tool. Any I take off will be replaced so I don't take every bit off a hive, just a little from each one that produces a lot. I now have a store which will last ages.

Apart from the propolis the main ingredient of the tincture is alcohol. Propolis is very insoluble and the only way to make a tincture is to soak it in very high strength alcohol. You can't get it from a chemist [I tried!] and I finished up buying 90% alcohol from Germany.
I was once asked by someone, who was Polish, how I made it. She said had I tried Spirytus? I hadn't heard of it but it's Polish vodka which is 96% proof. You can buy it over the internet!

I am doing a video on how its made.

If you Google  propolis there is tons of stuff about its medical properties. However I don't have any medical background and there were different permutations of how to make it and at what strength. so was a bit reluctant to push it at markets.
However I met someone [who was French] at a market who asked about it. It turned out she, and all her family, use it all the time and didn't know why it isn't more widespread here. We had a long conversation about it and when she told me she was a qualified nurse I asked her if she would be a 'test pilot' for my propolis.
I saw her a couple of months later and she said my stuff was fine and her daughter used it instead of the commercial stuff. To prove it worked when I met her she was in a wheelchair as she had broken her leg. However she was using crutches that gripped at the wrists and elbows and produced red sores. She used the propolis on one arm and not the other and on the treated one the sores cleared up.
This, combined with the fact she was a qualified nurse, gave me the confidence in it to formally sell it at markets.

As its a liquid it can be a little difficult to apply, and it can stain, so I wondered about making a cream. I have often been asked if I could make a honey lip balm.
The problem with this is that to sell something that is a cosmetic is expensive and time consuming to get it licenced, so I carried on having some available if anybody asked about it and gave most of it away.
After a while people came back for more, and several of the other stall holders at the markets I did used it. I have done some Dog Shows and a couple of people have even used it on their dogs paws if they become dry and cracked. So I decided to give it a go.
Not the greatest experience I have had although to be honest not quite as bad as I expected and after some occasionally weird correspondence and £200 later, it was duly licenced.

The benefits of propolis are two fold. It is anti bacterial, anti viral and anti fungal and is considered beneficial for skin ailments and gum sores.
Propolis is also a source of bioflavinoid compounds that enhance the therapeutic properties of Vitamin C and are also present in vegetables and fruit that contribute to the 5 A Day requirements.
I have met several people that add 5 drops of tincture to warm water with a bit of honey as a daily tonic.

Propolis has been used as a medicine for centuries and I was approached by someone asking if I could supply it.
Julian and Valerie  are the Two Apothecaries and are part of the Reenactment Movement as medieval apothecaries and demonstrate medicines made from plants and natural resources. A picture of the propolis  is here.
They were at the St George's Day Festival and if they are there next year you really should go along and say hello and talk to them about the various medicines they have on display..

.I have produced a couple of leaflets I give out at markets that can be downloaded from here.

The tincture and cream are now available at your local North Bedfordshire Honey Mega-store or at the Bromham Mill or Potton markets.
If you are interested in it please contact me via my website - northbedfordshirehoney.com - I don't check the Facebook page.