When gathered from the beehive propolis is sticky, yellow to brown, soft mass. It has a nice and strong aroma – mixture of beeswax, resin, honey, essential oils. It tastes sharp and bitter. Stored in cool temperature it becomes hard and just like the plasticine clay it gets softer after only few minutes in your hands.
The most common way to use propolis is having few drops propolis tincture. It is a liquid version of the propolis, made using pure alcohol to extract the resins.
Propolis contains a great variety of elements with a unique composition:
Flavonoids – flavones, flavonols, flavanones, flavanonols, chalcones, dihydrochalcones, isoflavones, isodihydroflavones, flavans, isoflavans, neoflavonoids and flavonoid glycosides;
Phenolic acids, tannins, stilbenes, curcuminoids, coumarins and quinines;
Terpens – acyclic, monocyclic, dicyclic monoterpenes are isolated from propolis;
Minerals – calcium, magnesium, aluminium, carbon, iron, manganese, nickel, and zinc;
Hydrocarbons, Aminoacids, Vitamins (В₁, В₂, В₆, А, Е, С) and many other elements.