Beeswax is the wax secreted by four pairs of wax glands in the abdomen of bees (worker bees). Bees secrete liquid wax from wax glands. The wax scales are white and opaque, and have irregular pentagonal shapes. 1kg of beeswax contains about 4 million wax scales. Bees need 50 wax scales to build a worker hive, and 120 wax scales to build a male hive. A strong bee colony can secrete 2kg or more of wax scales to build nests in a spring and summer.
Beeswax is in a solid state at room temperature and has a special fragrance of honey and powder. The colors are light yellow, medium yellow or dark brown and white. The section is in the form of crystals of tiny particles. Chewing sticky teeth, white after chewing, no oily taste. The specific gravity is 0.954-0.964, and the melting point is 62-67°C. Studies have found that beeswax is soluble in organic solvents such as benzene, toluene, chloroform, slightly soluble in ethanol, but insoluble in water, but under certain conditions, beeswax can form an emulsion with water.
The main chemical components of beeswax (beeswax) can be divided into 4 categories, namely esters, free acids, free alcohols and hydrocarbons. It also contains trace amounts of volatile oil and pigments. The components of yellow and white beeswax are basically the same. Beeswax is said to contain an aromatic colored substance called paramethoxin.
In ancient times, in the production activities of harvesting honey in Changbai Mountains, humans initially used beeswax as a product, and later gradually learned about beeswax and created a method to separate beeswax, dividing it into honey and beeswax. Because the separated beeswax is mostly yellow, it is also called "yellow wax". The history of beeswax is as long as the history of honey, which can be traced back to the ancient times when humans harvested honey.