In our daily lives, we often eat honey, mixed with water. In fact, along with honey, there is another substance—beeswax. So, do you know if beeswax is edible? Do you know what beeswax is? If you don't, that's okay. Today, the editor will introduce you to the knowledge of how to eat beeswax. Interested friends, come and take a look.
Is beeswax edible?
There are many species of bees, and beeswax belongs to the worker bees. It is a substance secreted by the wax glands on the abdomen of worker bees. Its main components include free fatty acids, acids, beneficial fatty alcohols, and carbohydrates.
In addition to these main components, beeswax is also rich in aromatic substances, vitamin A, carotene, and other beneficial elements for the human body. So, can beeswax be eaten? How do you eat beeswax?
Out in the world, many people use beeswax as a chemical material. In fact, beeswax is edible. Moreover, beeswax contains many nutrients, and after human consumption, it greatly helps physical development. So, let's take a look at how to eat beeswax together.
It greatly helps physical development after human consumption
Although many people have never eaten beeswax, many others have already made it a habit to eat it. Beeswax is not only a health food but can also be a medicine for treating diseases. For rhinitis and certain joint diseases, beeswax has a very good therapeutic effect. Next, let's get straight to the point and look at how to eat beeswax. There are mainly the following methods:
1. Melt the beeswax by heating it in a water bath, and it can be eaten. Note to keep the beeswax clean;
2. Beeswax can be taken with some Chinese medicine. If the main ingredient of the Chinese medicine is beeswax, the effect will be even better;
3. Beeswax can be cooked with some daily foods, such as scrambled eggs, etc.;
4. After cleaning the beeswax, it can also be eaten raw, but it must be absolutely clean;
The effects of beeswax
The medicinal value of beeswax is very high. In traditional Chinese medicine, beeswax has the effects of detoxifying, promoting tissue regeneration, and alleviating pain. Taken orally or applied externally, it can primarily treat acute heart pain, dysentery with pus and blood, prolonged diarrhea, fetal bleeding, sores and carbuncles attacking internally, unhealing chronic ulcers, scalds, etc.
In Western medicine, since the main component of beeswax is esters formed from higher fatty acids and higher monohydric alcohols, it can be made into various ointments, emulsions, and suppositories to treat ulcers, boils, burns, wounds, and other diseases.
Chewing beeswax orally can treat pharyngitis and maxillary sinusitis. Chewing capping wax can enhance respiratory immunity and treat rhinitis, paranasal sinus mucositis, and hay fever. Applying beeswax as a cooling compress ointment to the affected area can treat obliterative endarteritis, periodontitis, and spastic colitis.
A compound made from beeswax, calcium carbonate, mineral oil, and pure rosin can treat chronic mastitis, eczema, burns, wounds, tinea, dermatitis, abscesses, and papillomas.
How to eat beeswax
1. Wax Ejiao Egg
Recipe: 5 fresh eggs, 10g of Ejiao powder (stir-fried with oyster until pearl-like and crushed), 30g of beeswax.
Preparation: First, melt the beeswax, crack in the eggs, add Dong Ejiao powder, and mix well.
First, melt the beeswax, crack in the eggs
Usage: 1 dose daily, taken in 2 warm doses.
Efficacy: Invigorates blood and softens hardness. Suitable for chronic leukemia with deficiency of both qi and blood, with clinical manifestations such as pale complexion, fatigue, palpitations and shortness of breath, dizziness, and occasional bleeding from the nose, gums, or subcutaneous areas. The tongue is pale red with a thin coating, and the pulse is soft and thin.
2. Fruit Sesame Cake
Recipe: 2.75 kg of glutinous rice, 2.05 kg of japonica rice, 25g of beeswax, 3.5 kg of eight-fruit filling, 100g of white sesame seeds, 100g of peanut oil.
Method: Soak the glutinous rice and japonica rice in water for about 2 hours, rinse clean, drain the water, add about 2.5 kg of fresh water, and grind into rice milk with a stone mill. Lightly roast the white sesame seeds over low heat. Dissolve the beeswax by pouring hot oil over it.
Then, pour the rice milk into a steamer lined with cloth and steam over high heat for about 2.5 hours. Transfer the cloth with the rice milk to a porcelain bowl. With one hand, lift a corner of the cloth, and with the other hand, knead and rub the mixture on the cloth until it becomes a sticky, cooked dough. Place the dough on a board coated with beeswax and evenly coat the outside of the dough with more beeswax.
3. Wax-Fried Pork Stomach
Ingredients: 1 pork stomach, 30g of beeswax, appropriate amount of salt.
Method
1. Clean the pork stomach, cut it into pieces, and stir-fry in a wok over high heat until cooked.
2. Add an appropriate amount of beeswax and stir-fry until it is completely melted. Add salt and eat while hot.
3. If it gets cold, heat it up again, otherwise it will be sticky and difficult to swallow.
Efficacy: Eating beeswax-cooked pork stomach during the postpartum period is especially good for nourishing the stomach. Beeswax is a top-grade supplement for the gastrointestinal tract. This dish is mild in nature and suitable for restoring gastric mucosal damage. It has a good auxiliary effect on treating stomach diseases.
What are the ways to eat beeswax?
1. Direct consumption is one of the most common ways to eat beeswax. After chewing the beeswax, you can spit out the residue and drink a small amount of warm water. Alternatively, you can make beeswax into Chinese medicine pills with other Chinese herbs and swallow them as required. Also, beeswax can be melted, mixed with a small amount of honey, and then spread on bread or steamed buns for consumption, which can improve the taste of beeswax.
3. Beeswax can be stir-fried and eaten, especially when stir-fried with eggs, it is a very effective folk remedy for treating diseases. Eggs stir-fried with beeswax have obvious therapeutic effects on gastritis and tracheitis in humans after consumption. However, no salt should be added when stir-frying, and it is best to consume it on an empty stomach in the morning.
The composition of beeswax
Beeswax is a complex organic compound. The main components of beeswax are esters synthesized from higher fatty acids and monohydric alcohols, fatty acids, and carbohydrates. However, due to differences in bee species, nectar and pollen source plants, and extraction methods, its composition also varies.
(1) Esters
Fatty acid esters include monoesters and hydroxy esters, accounting for 70% to 75%. Among the monoesters are myricyl palmitate (23%), laccerol palmitate (2%), myricyl cerotate (12%), and pyrogallol myricyl ester (12). Among the hydroxy esters are hydroxy palmitate ceryl ester (8%-9%), diesters (9%-9.5%), and acid esters (4%-4.5%).
(2) Fatty acids
The content of free fatty acids is 10% to 15%; saturated fatty acids are 9% to 11%, including cerotic acid (3.3%-4.4%), montanic acid (1%-1.5%), melissic acid and humic acid (2%), psocidic acid (1.3%-1.5%), and pyrogallic acid (1.5%), etc.
(3) Sugars
The sugar content is 10% to 16%. Saturated hydrocarbons are most significant with 15 to 31 carbon atom chains, including pentacosane (0.3%), heptacosane (0.3%), nonacosane (1%-2%), and hentriacontane (8%-9%). Unsaturated hydrocarbons are mainly triacontane, accounting for 2.5%.
(4) Other components in beeswax
Beeswax contains fatty acid cholesterol esters, colorants (mainly 1-3 dihydroxy flavonoids), W-myristolactone, free fatty alcohols, etc. In addition, beeswax also contains a small amount of water and minerals. In the ash of beeswax, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen account for 80%, 13%, and 7%, respectively.
Collection and extraction of beeswax
The collection of beeswax is mostly done in spring and autumn. Beekeepers promote bees to secrete more wax and build more combs by strengthening the management of the bee colony. Then, they collect old combs used for many years, surplus comb, wax caps cut from honeycombs, queen cell bases, and honey cuts from honey extraction. After artificial extraction, the honeycombs from which honey has been removed are placed in a pot of water to melt. The upper layer of cocoon clothes, bee corpses, foam, and other impurities are removed, filtered while hot, and then cooled. The beeswax will solidify into a block and float on the water. It is then taken out, which is yellow wax. Yellow wax is further processed through refining and decoloring to become white wax.