Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/09/02/bee-spit-is-the-special-sauce.html
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Propolis as “bee spit mixed with beeswax”? Nahhh…
Propolis (pro: in front of and polis: the city) is a tree sap collected by bees and used, for instance, around the entrance of the hive (“in front of the city”). The bee colony is very clean - if there is something foreign, the bees will do their best to remove it. If they can’t remove it, they might encase it in propolis! In either case, it is one of the cornerstones of honeybee hygiene. Propolis is antibiotic, antibacterial and antiseptic - altogether a pretty amazing material, and particularly suited to such things as mouth ulcers and sore throats. In its raw form, it might be described as an acquired taste (ie, most people just scowl when first tasting it). But certainly worth learning to like. When made into an extract, and then used in products such as this, it can be very effective. When I was teaching fulltime, I always kept some propolis in my desk - it saved my voice on a number of occasions.
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How would you harvest such a thing?
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A very tiny cup and a lot of patience.
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Naa, just giv’em some tobacco and a spittoon.
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Bees fill in every crack with propolis so it’s easy to harvest–just open a hive and scrape it off. You can also buy a screen like thing that the bees will automatically fill in with propolis: https://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/Propolis-Trap.
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Hi, I’m Terrie’s tech guy. I probably have misophonia. Couldn’t agree with you more. Even the smallest, quietest mouth noise makes my skin crawl. But if you listen to her podcast, even her earlier, pre-candy episodes, you probably won’t hear any because I spent hours getting rid of them.
These candies took away a good 95% of her mouth noises. They save me loads of time. We had already tried lots of tips: drink tea, drink booze, sip water, eat apple slices…only these miracle candies worked. And I’m not even selling them.
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There’s been some scholarly study of the biological effects of propolis, and more on honey.
The first review is kind of laudatory, but has some interesting references, the second may have less bias. But honey is pretty cool.
Also guaifenesin, they say…
A prayer (with apologies to Homer)
www.brookelarimer.com/theoperaevangelist/a-prayer-with-apologies-to-homer
O Divine Mucinex,
Product of Reckitt Benckiser
Sustain for me
Vocal cords free of phlegm
Which, after they have sung the many notes
Of Handel and Rossini and Bach,
Were made to endure tirelessly
About the tyranny of Rhinovirus,
The sport of whose whims, all malevolent,
While their desire,
Through all of the mucous
Ached, in agony, to vibrate cleanly
And produce beautiful tone.
Vain hope - for them!
For the head cold strove against them,
Its untimely and unwanted visit;
The despot,
To inflame for no reason at all,
The mucous-membranes of my nose and throat!
Where the audition god failed to stop
The virus in its tracks.
Make my throat free of goo,
In all its delicate tissues,
O Mucinex.
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Just curious: Have you tried iZotope RX? If so, were you able to reduce the mouth sounds much (and quickly?)?
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