Articles

By Rabbi Dovid Cohen, Administrative Rabbinic Coordinator

Q. I know that honey is kosher.  What about royal jelly, bee pollen, and other things that come from bees?

A. Honey is an anomaly, in that it comes from a non-kosher insect (i.e., a bee), and yet it is kosher.  The Gemara provides two reasons why this is true, and many contemporary Poskim believe that a practical difference between those reasons is “honeydew honey” (a.k.a. forest honey).  It is produced by bees who feed on “honeydew”, a secretion of an aphid (a type of insect), rather than on nectar.  That secretion is sweet and edible, and whether the honey produced by bees who consume it is kosher, may well depend on which of the Gemara’s answers are considered normative halacha.  Hashgachos take different positions on this matter, and one should consult with their Rabbi as to what they should do.

Returning to standard honey, many maintain that it is worthwhile to only purchase honey that is certified as kosher.  A primary reason for this is to guarantee that the honey was not heated on non-kosher equipment to simplify getting this very viscous liquid into a bottle.  Most honey is filtered to remove parts of the bee that might be stuck in the honey.  In some cases, a “raw” honey will be unfiltered, in which case any “spots” or particles that seem foreign to the honey should be removed, as these may be non-kosher parts of a bee.  Lastly, flavored honey requires hashgachah to ensure that the flavor is kosher.  However, it is common that a variety of honey is marketed based on the type of nectar consumed by the bees in producing the honey.  An example of this is orange blossom honey, which is produced by bees that collect nectar from orange (and other citrus) trees, and accordingly has specific properties or taste that differentiate it somewhat from other honey.  That name is not reflective of the honey being flavored, and it does not pose any particular kashrus concern.

Royal jelly is a creamy, bitter-tasting, bee secretion which is consumed by the future “queen” bee (hence the name) and developing larvae.  While there are those who permit it, it is generally accepted that this item is not included in the special permission that the Torah gives to allow honey.  Therefore, since it comes from a non-kosher bee, it is treated as non-kosher.  [The homeopathic remedy “Apis Mellifera” is an extract made from bees and is also not recommended.]

In contrast, there are several indications in the Poskim that beeswax – a wax secreted by glands in the bee’s abdomen to form the honeycomb structure of the hive – is kosher.  The simplest explanation for the permissibility of beeswax is that it is inherently inedible, and therefore, although it comes from a non-kosher insect, it is classified as “pirshah” (literally, “excrement”), and the insect’s status does not transfer to it.

The above discussion relates to items which bees secrete or produce.  However, bees also collect pollen (found on the bee’s legs in the “pollen basket”), and since it is neither processed nor changed by the bee, it is permitted.  Bees also create two mixtures using “kosher” ingredients: pollen and plant-based nectar are combined to create “bee bread” (a.k.a., ambrosia), and plant resin is mixed with beeswax to form “bee propolis”.  Since the ingredients in these two items are kosher, bee bread and bee propolis are also kosher.

This article first appeared in the Let’s Talk Kashrus column, Yated Ne’eman, August 2, 2024.