Royal Jelly

Royal Jelly is a sticky, off-white, creamy substance secreted by the pharyngeal gland of nursery/worker bees. This highly nutritional goop is fed to all new larvae for the first few days of life. What makes it "Royal" is that larvae chosen to be queens are fed the jelly their entire lives.

Queen bees have expanded lifespans living up to five years, they grow significantly larger than typical worker or drone bees and are fertile.

Recently, nutritional supplement companies and vitamin distributors have started to market the jelly. I have seen; Bee Pollen, Propolis and Royal Jelly all marketed as skin cares, as a means of lowering cholesterol, combined with ginseng as an energy boost, and as a enhancement for love.

This astringent secretion is packed with enzymes, amino acids and vitamins. It may even make people feel better (placebo or not). There are very few side effects (again, placebo effect) but some users have reported a slight fever that diminishes with continued use of the product. The actual compound has not been synthesized yet, though there are synthetic types on the market Look out!, FDA!

We know it makes queen bees big and strong - but what about those MALE drones?

"Royal Jelly" is also a short story by Roald Dahl. It is in the typical Dahl style: the whole experience is surreal; you don't know who to feel symapthy for, or whether to forget sympathy and just to experience the ride. You're never quite sure whether Dahl is illustrating some grand moral, or whether Dahl is just telling a grand story to his buddies. It does actually have the feel of a college creepy-guy-next-door story.

Without going into plot details, the story involves a malnourished child and a obssesive honeybee worker. Personally, I find this to be one of Dahl's stranger stories, yet it is somehow one of the most appealing.

This story was in "Tales of the unexpected"