What is Royal Jelly?
Royal jelly is a type of honey bee extract utilized in nourishing adult queens and larvae. The substance is basically secreted from the hypopharynx glands of the worker bees. This secretion is then fed to the larvae inside the colony. There is a process or stage in the colony when worker bees are required to make another new queen. This is during instances when the old queen is already weak or was killed. Their choice of a new queen would start in the selection among larvae. Then they feed their chosen larva with a substantial amount of royal jelly.

This extract when fed to the larvae, which is also the would-be queen, is administered in specially built queen cells. The type of feeding especially with the nutritious secretion basically helps in the development of what is known as the queen morphology. It also helps in the development of ovaries necessary for laying the eggs.

Royal jelly is cultivated through collecting the extracts from individual queen cell or also termed as honeycomb. This is done when the queen larvae reaches its fourth day. The honeycomb is the only place where the substance is collected because it contains the largest amounts deposited by the worker bees. In most well managed and cultivated hives, you could get approximately 500 grams of extracts in a period of five to six months.

The extract is highly perishable therefore, it is vital that producers must immediate place it in proper storages with the right and ideal cold temperature. This could be the freezer or household fridge. In order to lengthen the preservation of royal jelly, most producers prefer mixing the extracts with beeswax or honey. It is sold and used as dietary supplements since there are claimed health benefits with its B-complex vitamin, minerals and enzyme contents.