Why Royal Jelly is So Expensive | So Expensive Food | Insider Business 

Saying it’s expensive because of the nutrients is off. It’s expensive because it’s rare and takes much more effort to extract

For those who aren't aware, it isn't ordinary honey bees that are hurting the most, although they have taken a hit. The real threat is the global collapse of solitary bee populations, which take care of a significantly larger portion of their local ecosystem than honey bees do. Very few people actually know this and hearing so many channels talking about the threats to honey bees is discouraging, because the only reason they're the ones being propped up is because we profit from them. I wish more creators and public representatives took notice of solitary bees and tried to find methods to help.

For those wondering, its does not taste like honey at all. Its bitter and tastes a little like spoiled milk.

Love that people see it potentially helps queen bees live longer and are just like "if it works for bees then surely it'll work for me!"

Uh, ok as a beekeeper here in FL, I’m not so sure that Royal Jelly has any more nutrients than your average multivitamin so its not expensive because of its super food qualities. If anyone knows what it takes to rear queen bees you would realize that the price comes from the effort it takes to raise and trick a colony into making multiple queen cups in one hive. As they usually only make one, MAYBE two when the queen dies or the colony rejects her for sub par work and egg laying. Queen Bee rearing companies have to monitor the bees every single day, sometimes multiple times a day to make sure the bees are making queen cups, and make sure they know where all the queen cups are at (which is why they seem to use a queen cup template) because if a queen is missed and it is raised into a full fledged queen, that queen will then hunt down all other queens and kill them in their cups. How they get them to make as many as we just saw in just ONE colony (looked to be dozens in just one colony) is an intricate and painstaking process. THAT is where the price comes from.

This is a rare episode where the worker has complete control of the crop and the price. They really sound so expert and gradually improving the method which then improves the quality of the product and the price. Many other episodes in this series convey more of the struggles of the worker and the industry. These honeybee workers really work hard and work smart at the same time.

As a native bilingual in Chinese and English, I am thoroughly impressed at the quality of the English subtitles. Normally English subtitles for Chinese stuff suck, and even the best tend to contain mistranslations, but these are actually great.

Its incredible how the beauty and food industry find a new anti-aging and aphrodesiac product every 2 years. True pioneers.

I dont know about you guys, but i love how the beekeeper is so enthusiastic when explaining and i was drawn to his explanations. He seems to love his job very much

The beginning had me turning down my volume

A beekeeper calling bees a "magical creature" is as wholesome as it gets. What a beautiful little docu!

This is incredibly impressive work tbh, major respect to the farmers that harvest this, it’s incredibly hard

Nice to know that we're eating not only the yellow stuff but the white stuff also coming from bees, we're really just desperate for bee excretions.

Lots of stuff in this video that's inaccurate. All bee larvae are fed royal jelly, queens are just fed significantly more of it. The better feed at larval stage is what allows the queen bees ovaries to develop and mature. The workers aren't infertile because they consume honey pollen. Actually workers can lay eggs, but because workers don't mate they don't have the chromosomes to produce anything but male bees. They also keep using footage of aisian giant hornets (murder hornet) when they mention queens. Royal jelly isn't more expensive because of the nutrition, but because it's very labour intensive to produce. I am a beekeeper. I'd like to see the references for the "studies" mentioned.

Honestly after watching this the first time in my life im saying that something should be even more expensive than it already is

It's definitely worth! My grandmother only eats this honey and she's now 4000 years old.

“Queens live 50 times longer than other bees” shows b-roll of hornets

@2:59 When narrator mentions "drones" they show the image of a worker bee (female) carrying pollen on its pollen baskets. This is inaccurate. Drones (males) do not do any work whatsoever. They are a resource sink for the hive, which is why they are tossed out of the hive to starve to death at the end of the season.

the fact that he has a million of bees would show that he has a good amount of respect for them and from looks of it is limiting how much he is taking at a time

this was very informative I was actually surprised that they didn't portrait these bee keepers negatively just because they are Chinese. You know what I mean, yes you do.

For anyone who's curious, rapeseed is essentially canola. Wild rapeseed contains some things that make it unhealthy to consume regularly and unfit to feed to livestock. So a bunch of Canadians (which is where the "can" in canola comes from) developed canola which is considered safe. There's also colza, which in some languages refers to rapeseed and canola in general, but is also used for non-food grade rapeseed oil.

You can notice from the video, the price is not as high as you would normally expect from this series. The high price mainly comes from the labor cost, and due to the nature of this product, the bloom season. With a little marketing effort which is just like ginseng with later is more well known in Asia. Just take manuka honey as an example, think about how "special" it is. Comes from special trees, needs heli to transport to a remote local at a specific time, and gov certified mark. All these just bump the price and make the manuka honey special. Maybe over 20 years ago, my grandma give me two bottles of this, but I never try to consume these, but just kept them frozen in the refrigerator I think it is due to the lack of sugar, and does not taste good.

I admire this man's dedication. His parents are proud. Thanks for sharing. His accent sounds country

7:25 looks like something straight out of a ghibli movie

A good point was made about how the larvae being killed is causing scrutiny since bee populations are declining but at least they're still eating the larvae rather than just killing it and throwing it away just to get the royal jelly, at least in this example anyways

2:56 That bee has a Varroa Destructor on it. It's that red spot on it abdomen. They are a common parasite that infects bees.

Wow! 🐝 Never knew the buzz about Royal Jelly! 🍯 Mind-blowing!

People hear “bee” and immediately think of honeybees. Honeybees arent immediately endangered by urbanization and they don’t make up a majority of pollinators in the ecosystem. The real threat is to Solitary Bees, or bees that live by themselves without a Hive. These include Carpenter Bees, Field Bees, Leaf Cutting Bees, and the like. They rely on trees and plant life to survive, and urbanization hurts them the most.

As a bee swarm player, I think this is accurate but when you feed it to the bees it changes into another completely different bee.

"this sticky,white,milky cream" Bruh

When he says it’s a pungent milky substance and I see it’s off white… me… ITS BEE SEMEN!!! 😂😂😂

I was sweating when she said "This Sticky, White, Milky cream"....

Is it just me or when I hear someone say it’s a really crazy expensive price I think it will be a very crazy price like $10,000 a pound. $125 a pound is a good price for the labor and niche that isn’t common. I mean who’s out there making royal jelly on a industrial scale?

*Insert mandatory ‘those are the bees knees’ joke here*

Bees truly are magical creatures.

The royal jelly are high demand on skincare/supplements products rather than just consume on its own. So you probably won’t realised but you might have using these on your daily life.

its not just queen bees who eat it, bee larvae also eat it when they are growing but then they switch to honey and bee bread. Queen bees keep eating it which is what makes them special

So yummy! Thanks for sharing! Have a great day

I like the way that the wax in the honeycomb naturally turns hexagonal by itself, so that the bees don't have to make all the cells in the whole frickin' thing hexagonal. Not that they're lazy lol.

It always comes down to the production method than actual benefit of the product.

I talk to the bees in my two hives everyday. You do start to have feelings for them. I’m very protective of my colonies.

its expensive because it can transform your bee into any other bee ;)

Makes sense that it takes so long to get a small amount of the royal jelly, I read an article before that says each honey bee makes 1/8 teaspoon honey in their entire lifetimes

Instead of chasing exotic foods for nourishment, just eat a proper balanced diet everyday.

Why so expensive? Most Best series on RU-vid.

its wild how many things bees do and make

I bought this in Albania four years ago and costed a fortune when thinking about the prices there. It has been used since ancient times and yes, it is promoted as something containing lots of nutrients. My mum called it, the milk of bees, which I thought she was mistaken as such thing didn't exist, but yes, apparently it did. The taste is amazing and it did cure my sore throat, but besides that, I don't know if it had any health effects.

Fungicides are typically applied ro rapeseed in early bloom stage so its easy to imagine these chemicals accumulating in bee products.

While indeed the bee population is declining it's not the honny bees we should worry about but the thoudands of other wild varieties. There isn't much harm done in this bussiness rather theu're actually sustaining their own colonies of bees.

Caught me off guard with the slow "This Sticky, White, Milky, Cream"

People buying this will buy literally anything. You could probably convince the average queen-jelly enjoyer to encase themselves in beeswax for a day if you promise them longevity or some shit.

This would seem like a good plot point for Bee Movie 2

Not sure if that was all footage from those hives or if some stock footage was also added, but some clips seemed to show a serious varroa problem.

Royal Jelly, aka "food for bee larva" given a fancy name to upsell to wealthy westerners.

The very first time I ever heard about Royal Jelly was in a short story by Roald Dahl. I was suspicious of it's claims of being a superfood, etc (Still suspicious). But it is good to see beekeepers specialize and take advantage of it.

Its honestly surprising how its not even more expensive, considering how niche it is and how finicky and tedious that looks to produce. Seems like something that could be automated eventually.

???? We not gonna act like that it’s not just bee cu-

LETS GOOOO SOMEONE ACTUALLY SAYINg “ZUO” RIGHT(ish) 🗣️🗣️🗣️

at this point to be stung by a honey bee is an honor

10:45 not just excessive pesticides, but fake fertilizer. One common of is to use lead nitrate in place of ammonium nitrate, giving the soil the requisite nitrogen but reducing all future crops with each usage.

Those guys have such a simple nice culture with no politics involved at least few hints he had to launch

bee's are magical creatures!!

Damn 70 years old! Im starting to beelived in those royal jelly.

my man handling those beehives with his BARE HANDS

Bee Swarm Players 👇👇

bee swarm simulator real

worker female bees aren't sterile, they can lay eggs but they lay male eggs exclusively, and male bees aren't workers, they can participate in the defense some times but mostly are just enjoying life like children and if things get tight in winter male bees are killed by the worker bees.

these guys need to be in a tv show

I mean its expensive cuz its rare not because its more nutritious, if it just tasted different people would still buy it for that price, its a novelty and we all know it

Tried royal jelly before. The taste is horrendous, it's a bit spicy and honestly the texture is exactly like a certain white substance our fellow human males can secrete as well. Not worth the price, might as well just buy honey instead of spicy white stuff

"queens live 50 times longer than normal bees, and while there is no scientific evidence for it" yall using Wikipedia?

That would be amazing if they discovered something like that that made you live 50 times longer imagine that

A milky white substance that has a pungent taste? That's not royal jelly I am afraid...

Imagine you consume royal jelly and you suddenly turned into queen 💀

Bad taste, gross consitency, takes forever to collect, and comes out of a bee's face. Random millionaire: yes

Honestly knew about most of this, but holy moly I had NO IDEA people _eat_ queen bee larvae!! Not gonna judge that, but wouldn't it be better for bee populations to save those larvae to start more bee colonies? Since they're taking such a huge hit from pesticides and such, I just felt it was a natural question to ask.

Well it goes same with humans who eat mostly sugars everyday, they don't last as long as those who have healthier diets with less carbohydrates.

I feel sad for the bess

I can’t believe bee swarm sim is coming to life

“Sticky, white, milky cream” *pause*

Successful people don't become that way Overnight. What most people see at a glance wealth, a great career, purpose-is the result of hard work and hustle over time. I pray that anyone who reads this will be Successful in life..

I am impressed with the way royal jelly is harvested. Is it possible to buy from this farm?

Alright thanks for the essay, im gonna name it "the history of the beekeeper and royal jelly"

Fascinating, bee's make a number of things. I use propolis/ bee glue tincture to treat cuts and wounds, It has amazing antiseptic and healing properties.

Strangely they seems to forget to mention the dozens of empty sugar syrup barrels on the field, nor the fact that bees bred for massive royal jelly production are so fragile that needs to be constanty under antibiotics

I should definitely try this. I too want to be able to live 7 years and lay 3000 eggs in a day

Maybe the queen bee lives so much longer because it's pampered like a queen and doesn't have to do much work? Lmao

First 6 seconds & im flattered with the way they’re talking about me 🥰

Wait ✋ people eat royal jelly? Isn't that for the queen of the hive ?

I think ... if every homeowner got into be keeping that would sustain a healthy bee population.

Thank you for knowledge

0:03 i have no idea why i laughed so hard at this part-

This is one of the health foods that has some pretty dangerous potential and is very understudied. Royal jelly contains high levels of lots of different hormones and it’s unknown if these can interact with a human.

Noticed the mites on some of the close ups. Bloody things are a pain in hives

Damn it sounds like a potent drink. I wish I had some in case any of my family members fell ill.

"This sticky white milky cream" 💀

08:17 the large flying insect is NOT Queen Bee but Bee eating Wasp!

So imagine this: A colony of bees is a super organism where everthing is micromanaged through vibrations, sounds and pheromones etc. The Queen Bee plays a huge role in the hive not just because she is the queen per se, but because she and her pheromones signal to the hive, that everything is working and noone is in danger. Now imagine the constant stress of the worker bees who do not have a queen and are in desperate need of creating a new one, putting alot of resources and effort into raising one just to get it taken away because of the goodie juices. Farming for royal jelly is so unethical, it hurts. But bees are just insects, like what do i know. (I dont want to start a "whataboutism" thread because there are more unethical animal farming facilities out there. We all know. But i felt, not many knew about bees) The cherry on top: It is not even proven, that royal jelly is the cause of a mere bee egg turning into a queen bee. (All larvae are fed RJ from day 1 to 3) Some studies suggest, that its even the other way around. When a larvae gets honey to feed, they change into worker bees. The absense of RJ and addition of honey starts something called DNA methylation, essentially changing the activity of some dna strings without changing the dna in itself and thus turning the bee larvae into a worker bee. BUT. The last fact is all information i have read online, so i can not vouch for 100% accuracy, though i would keep this in mind. The first argument alone is enough for me to not adore royal jelly. I just started beekeeping last year in june and it broke my heart when one queen died this spring and they tried to raise a new one. Their behavior was tremendously different than with a healthy queen, super nervous, loud and more on the aggressive side. Now imagine this stress 24/7. Have a great day and plant some flowers for your native wild bees, they need love as well

I now understand why the really old ladies in my village in Western Kenya used to take the young larvae filled cells ("amaana") and consume them with honey and the jelly (used to wonder what the substance was)

Imagine raising Bees 😮❤