A pine tree is a beautiful tree, but its flowers are so inconspicuous that it is unlikely that anyone would think of picking them into bouquets. But pine flowers, and the whole tree as a whole, are valued very highly for their usefulness. We can say that it contains a whole forest pharmacy. Cones, needles, branches, buds, bark, resin, flowers, and especially pollen have useful properties. No wonder, during the flowering period, whole swarms of bees fly over the pines. Smart insects strive to prepare as much valuable food product as possible to feed all the inhabitants of the hive. The healers long ago drew attention to the peculiarities of the behavior of bees and began to find out what beneficial pollen has pine pollen, how to take it with health benefits, and from which it can be cured. They continue to study this natural product now. We offer you information about it, verified by numerous experiments and experiments.
Pine inflorescences
Surprisingly, some people do not know at all that conifers can bloom, and they think that cones appear directly from the branches. In fact, conifers have flowers, and on one tree in their immediate vicinity from each other two of their species “blossom” - male and female. Pine pollen, the use of which for medicinal purposes has been known for centuries, is found only in male flowers, scientifically called microstrobils.
Usually they are located several pieces (less often one at a time) at the very tips of the twigs and resemble light brown, sometimes yellowish-beige spikelets or cones in miniature up to a maximum length of 15 mm. In these microstrobils pollen grains also ripen. They are round, but on the sides they have two air sacs, due to which wind or water carry them for many kilometers. To collect pollen, you need to know exactly the time of flowering of the pine, otherwise a valuable medicinal product from microstrobes will spill out. In each region, dates may differ, and pine trees, although they look similar, may belong to different species and varieties and have different flowering periods. But everywhere they come before planting deciduous trees and bushes. In the suburbs this is the second half of May.
Chemical composition
What is the use of pine pollen? The use of this natural product determines its rich composition. In every speck of dust there are proteins, fats, glycine, organic acids, proline, rutin, threonine, testosterone (especially its high content in the pollen of Scotch pine), flavonoids, enzymes. Vitamins A, groups B, D3, C were found in pollen, and in addition, trace elements potassium, selenium, manganese, iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, copper, phosphorus - only about 30 minerals. This is an incomplete list of substances and their compounds that make pine pollen so valuable.
Application area
In folk medicine, mainly Chinese, for centuries they have been treating pine pollen for such diseases:
- tuberculosis;
- Some problems with the gastrointestinal tract (constipation, inflammatory processes, dysbiosis);
- mental disorders;
- depression;
- prostatitis;
- hyperleukocytosis;
- aging of the body;
- menopause;
- impotence;
- as an additional remedy for many types of cancer;
- diabetes;
- arthritis;
- reduced hemoglobin, anemia;
- skin diseases.
Scientists conducted experiments on mice, adding pine pollen to their diet. The results confirmed that this product can be used as an analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antitumor, anti-aging and immune-enhancing agent.
Contraindications
No matter how valuable the pine forest pharmacy is, not everyone can use it. During the flowering period of conifers in places where they grow in large quantities, some people have allergy symptoms (runny nose, conjunctivitis, cough, and others). For those whose body reacts to pine pollen in such a way, it is contraindicated to use preparations from it inside. In addition, such a medicine is not suitable for those suffering from kidney and heart failure, pregnant women, infants, people with individual intolerance.
Pine Pollen: How to Collect
In principle, pollen is easy to harvest. The main thing to keep in mind is the flowering time. Mature pollen pours out of male microstrobes quickly and easily. Contributes to this and the wind, swinging twigs. Therefore, the collection of the product must begin when the male inflorescences have already reached the desired (mature) size, the dust particles in them have already matured, but the microstrobes have not yet opened. Nature devotes only 2, maximum 5 days to this process. There are pickers who just pour it into the prepared container, for example, a plastic bag, pollen from flowers, shaking them or gently tapping them with a finger. In this case, the flowers remain on the branches.
This method is gentle for the tree, but ineffective, although the result is pine pollen ripened under natural conditions in the package.
Experienced procurers know how to assemble it with greater efficiency. They determine when it is time to start the process, by the color of the male strobilone cones, which should become bright yellow, sometimes with a greenish tint. Inflorescences are carefully cut from a twig and placed in a container covered with clean paper. At the same time, a small percentage of pollen spills out, but will not disappear.
The inflorescences are laid out for drying, pollen is shaken out of them, sifted through a sieve with a very fine lattice and packaged in airtight jars. It is advisable to sift the pollen 3-4 times, substituting a plastic bag under the sieve. As a result, the product should turn out to be pure yellow, without brown impurities. In the room where pollen is manipulated, there should be no drafts, let alone wind. The yield of raw materials is small. Usually pure pollen produces a glass and a half from a bucket of inflorescences.
The easiest way to treat
Folk healers, especially in China, are well aware of the beneficial properties of pine pollen. How to take, and most importantly, how to prepare drugs from it, we will tell you now. You can use pollen as a kind of dietary supplements, that is, add it to your diet. For adults, the dose is half a teaspoon or slightly less than half an hour before each meal. You can drink such a medicine with water, tea or milk. The course is one month, after which you need to take a break, since prolonged use of pollen can change blood coagulation. Dry pollen is taken as a preventive medicine for colds in the offseason, as a means to strengthen the body after operations, serious illnesses, as a means of controlling metabolic processes and thereby removing excess weight, and also to slow down the aging process.
Tinctures
There are methods for the manufacture of potions in which pine pollen exhibits more beneficial properties. How to take these drugs and how to prepare them? The main of these folk preparations are tinctures. They are considered a powerful biostimulant that updates cells, restores all bioactive processes in the body. This gives excellent results as a comprehensive treatment for cancer, tuberculosis, infertility, diseases of the stomach, liver, kidneys, lungs, body rejuvenation, restoration of the nervous system, improved sleep, relieved fatigue, and increased immunity. A tincture is prepared not from one pollen, but also from anthers (ripened male pine flowers), in proportions of about 1: 2. Fill this jar with 2/3 of these raw materials and pour vodka to the top. Insist from 2 days or more, after which they are filtered and placed in the refrigerator.
To prevent any disease, to tone up, to relieve fatigue and to strengthen the body, drink tincture 1 time per day in a teaspoon half an hour before meals. As a remedy for oncology, asthma, tuberculosis, drink tincture three times a day in a tablespoon or dessert spoon, also half an hour before a meal. The course is no more than a month, after which a break is needed. It is very useful to add tincture of pollen to teas from herbs, for example, when coughing with sputum, in decoctions of coltsfoot, lunatic, plantain, thyme, and wild rose. With a dry cough - in the decoction of marshmallow, buckwheat, chamomile, hazelnut leaves, sunflower petals.
Infusions in water and milk
You can get a lot of advice from folk healers on how to use pine pollen. Recipes of decoctions are also there. They are simple, but you need to remember that you can’t boil pollen, because at temperatures above 90 degrees many useful substances disappear from it. The easiest way is to brew pollen with milk (teaspoon per glass). The milk is brought to the boiling point and removed from the fire, pour pollen in a thin stream, mix, wrap and insist. You can add honey to this medicine. They drink milk with pollen for tuberculosis, bronchitis, various hormonal disorders, with stress and fatigue, and with a weakened body.
There is a separate recipe for preparing a medicine from pollen and milk for hypertension. Take a glass of unboiled milk, add pollen to the tip of a knife, mix and drink every morning one hour before the meal.
With bronchitis in milk, you can brew not only pollen, but also male pine inflorescences.
It is necessary to cook decoctions of pollen in water (it is possible with herbs) without boiling, only in a water bath.
There is a good recipe for making syrup from pollen and male pine inflorescences. To do this, boil 300 grams of sugar in one and a half glasses of water. Ready syrup is poured into 500 grams of raw material, crushed with a light load and set to cool. It is then filtered, and the syrup is used as a preventive medicine to treat asthma and strengthen the body, and pine inflorescences are added to teas as needed.
Pine Pollen with Honey
This is the most effective treatment. The preparation is prepared as follows: a tablespoon (without a slide) or one and a half dessert spoons of pollen are added to 500 grams of honey and the mass is mixed until smooth. It should turn out a beautiful yellow-golden color. Before use, it is advisable to melt sugared honey in a water bath or by placing it on a battery. Such a medicine can be eaten absolutely for all diseases for those who are not allergic to beekeeping products. Especially often pollen with honey is used for colds, bronchitis, laryngitis, tonsillitis. Adults consume 2 teaspoons of it three times a day, and children from 6 years old take one teaspoon each.
Some recipes
Truly versatile has pine pollen beneficial properties.
How to take it with tuberculosis:
In a glass of alcohol tincture of pollen and pine flowers (in case of allergic reactions alcohol can be replaced with milk) add a spoonful of honey and butter, 1 chicken egg, mix thoroughly and use three times a day before eating a tablespoon.
You can make a pollen medicine for tuberculosis in the following way: add one and a half tablespoons (without a hill) of pollen to 150 grams of honey (preferably lime), mix very well and take a dessert spoon of the drug before the meal starts in about an hour. The course is 3 weeks, then a week break and again 3 weeks of treatment. The cycle repeats all the time until complete healing.
With diabetes:
The composition of pollen helps protect the pancreas and insulin production. It is advisable for diabetics to consume alcohol tincture of pine pollen, prepared according to the recipe described above. Drink a tincture of a teaspoon 30 minutes before the meal three times a day. For those who do not have diabetes, pollen tincture is an ideal prophylactic.
In cosmetology:
Pine pollen improves the regeneration of skin cells, relieves inflammation, heals, and removes harmful substances. Preparations based on it are used for acne, freckles, dandruff, boils, dryness and fatigue of the skin. Masks are mainly made from pollen by mixing a couple of spoons of sour cream, the juice of half a lemon and half a teaspoon of pollen.