Bee propolis is a wonderful ingredient for your DIY body products, especially when you want to encourage healing. Unfortunately, raw bee propolis looks like clods of dirt, and as such is rather difficult to add to things as is. So, before you can easily add it to lotions, toners, and other concoctions, you need to turn it into a tincture. No worries, it’s very easy!
So, first things first. What is bee propolis? It’s a resinous substance that bees gather from trees and flowers. Just like honey, propolis varies from hive to hive. It’s used for many things inside the hive, including patching holes, inhibiting bacterial and fungal growth, and preventing putrefaction when large intruders (like mice) crawl into the hive and die. The broad make-up of propolis is “primarily resins and vegetable balsams (50%), waxes (30%), essential oils (10%), and pollen (5%)” (source).
Right. So, how to turn these sticky little clods of lovely stuffs into something a bit easier to use? It’s quite simple.
Start with about 2 tbsp of cold, raw propolis (frozen is best) and blend it in your DIY coffee grinder until you have a fine powder.
Transfer that powder to a small mason jar and top off with about two to four times as much clear grain alcohol, rubbing alcohol, or perfumery alcohol. The clear grain alcohol is generally the best choice since it’s safe for ingestion, but since it’s just me and I knew I wouldn’t be temped to do a shot of it, I used perfumery alcohol. Perfumery alcohol has the added benefit of being capable of dissolving even extra-resinous essential oils, making it a good choice for super-resinous propolis.
Stir to combine and cap the jar. Shake, and let sit for 24 hours or so, allowing the alcohol to dissolve whatever it can.
Once the mixture has sat for at least 24 hours, pass it through a fine sieve lined with a paper coffee filter to remove any solids.
It will take some stirring and waiting to get it all filtered. Do it while you’re baking or something.
Store the filtered tincture in a dark glass bottle and use a few drops at a time in lotions, creams, and toners. As this is a very concentrated tincture you may want to dilute it with extra alcohol if you tend to be a bit drop happy 😉 Discard the solids—they will be gross and sticky.
Warning: This makes a pretty sticky mess, mostly in the jar you let the mixture steep in. All the tree sap and what not dissolves down into a very gluey substance. So, consider making a bigger batch depending on how quickly you use propolis so you can avoid the mess as many times as possible.
This is awesome, Marie! I still have my original bottle of propolis tincture to use up, but I would love to make my own eventually. Where did you track down bee propolis powder? It doesn’t appear to exist on NDA or SB 🙁
I got mine at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto the last time I was there. I haven’t ever seen it online in clod form, just at farmer’s markets, so I’d start there 🙂
Hi! My name is Lisa and I’m a beekeeper. I make soaps and oils from my own apiary. I’d be happy to send you all the raw propolis that you need ! It is like a glue so it has to be removed every single time we go into the hive so that when we come back we can open it. You can message me through my business Fb page The Age of Alchemy.Our page has pictures and videos of our own hives and you can see where your products come from ! THANKS -LISA
Wow! What an amazing offer 🙂 I actually still have quite a lot of propolis from my last visit to the St Lawrence Market, but I will keep your lovely apiary in mind if I ever run out—it sure is potent!
Lisa I’m making products for my local farmers market and could sure use a batch of propolis to get me going.. If you’re willing I’d love to get some if still available thanks! Could send you some of my goodies once made!
Hello, Lisa…
I know this post is old, but hopefully my comment will make its way to you. I would absolutely love the chance to get some of your raw propolis, as I’m having a hard time finding it except capsule form. If it’s possible, please send me an email at carmenmarrs[at]yahoo.com
hi, how much would u sell propolis for? I got sum awhile back and it seems to be dry, not sticky, i ordered from another country i believe,, i dont need to freeze it to turn into powder, i have tried eating sum, (smh) and it does stick in my mouth :We have tried to to raise honey bees and lost them 2 years in a row, we havent tried this year because it is upsetting to lose them and our area has alot of people that love round up and kill any and all bees, they are programmed well, have u seen that wall mart has patented robotic polinating bees and what is ur thought on it? i have seen less than 25-30 bees all year, it is sad
I am using grain alcohol (ever clear) for my tincture and you said to let it sit over night before you filter. My question is what is the minimum or maximum amount of time to let it steep. I don’t need it right now but I will in about 7 days. What is the best waiting period for best results?
I’m afraid that’s a pretty hard question to give a firm answer for without some pretty fancy scientific equipment. Longer will mean stronger, up to a point—at some point you’ll hit a point of diminishing returns for infusion time vs. what is extracted, but I couldn’t say when that would be.
where do you get raw bee propolis? I can only find it in capsules.
I bought mine at the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, so I’d check your local farmer’s market.
Where in the St.Lawrence Market did you get it?
Oooh, a Torontonian! Lucky you, being able to go to the St. Lawrence Market whenever you like 😉 It’s in the north building on Saturday mornings. Walk in the south west door and it’s right in the south west corner. It’s a fairly big booth (aka collection of tables) that sells loads of bee stuff, and last time I was there it was the only bee booth in the north market. Mostly candles, lip balm, and honey, but if you ask, they’ve got the wee jars of propolis that you see pictured here 🙂 I got mine in May, but I’m not sure if the time of year makes any different in availability. I also bought a jar of pollen from them that’s great in granola.
When you’re there maybe you could say hi to the strudel lady in the southeast corner for me 😛 If you get the right one (Cathy) she should remember me, haha. I took a bunch of photos for her and was paid in baking.
🙂 This is a placeholder comment to fool my comment system since you weren’t talking to me. I’m going to delete it right after posting, so disregard if you get an email notification! 🙂
What is bee pedophilia and what are its benefits? I know about bee venom and would love to find some of that, to make my own cream for facials.
I sure hope you mean bee propolis, Monique 😉 I give a pretty good overview of it above:
“Oops stupid spell check! Ok, I did read above and know what bee PROPOLIS is. My question on bee venom remains. Knowing where to purchase only the bee venom and from which seller (company). Have you any ideas?
I just Googled it, and everything I found required bulk buys. Prices looked to be $50+ per gram, with minimum buys of at least 50 grams from what I could see (and usually coming from China, so I imagine there’s shipping in there as well). So, at $2500+, that may be more than you want to spend 🙁 But, from my research the main benefit of it is that it increases blood flow to the area, encouraging collagen production, and you can achieve that for much less money! A face mask with a bit of vitamin C in it should achieve more or less the same thing for a fraction of the price 🙂
Right in the nick of time. Our little striped ladies didn’t make it past the first hard freeze. 🙁 It was the saddest thing finding them curled up around the queen frozen in time. I proceeded to cleaning out our hive last night and I scraped as much propolis as I could and recovered 14g. It wasn’t the strongest hive so there wasn’t much propolis , but I’m out to make sure nothing goes to waste. Thank you for the reminder on how to make the tincture. Just one question… Where did you get your stainless steel funnel? I’m having kitchen tool envy.
Oh no, your poor bees 🙁 I can’t believe you just had your first hard freeze, though! It’s been freezing here for months now. We’ve got a warm spell now, but it was -40°C with windchill in early December.
I’m so jealous that you were able to harvest your own propolis, though. I bet you will have a super awesome batch of tincture 🙂 The funnels are actually from Value Village, haha—they came in a set of 3 in one of their kitchen utensil grab bags.
My fingers are crossed that my two hives make it through their first winter. If they don’t, at least this recipe will let me make the most of what’s left!
Fingers crossed!
This is brilliant! I actually bought propolis a few months ago and keep forgetting to look up how to make a tincture. Most fortuitous timing.
Awesome 🙂 Enjoy your new tincture!
I get mine from here http://www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/bee-propolis-products.html
Priced reasonably!! My hubby and I are also addicted to their throat spray. It stops a sore throat in its tracks! Excellent service! And they’re Canadian 🙂
Thanks so much for the source, Annie!
Hi Marie, I love your site! I live in Vancouver, BC. We’ve been getting some sunshine for the past few days 8-| I get a lot of my bee products from this bee farm in Vernon, BC. http://www.planetbee.com/products.php
Thanks so much for the source, Erica! It looks like they’ve got some great stuff, including Canadian Royal Jelly 😀 I’ll definitely keep them in mind for when my pollen & propolis supplies start to dwindle.
I can’t wait to try this recipe out, it sounds amazing! I also would like to give you a big thank you for your wonderful blog posts! I look forward to reading them and experimenting with your inventive recipes each week. Keep up the awesome job 🙂
Thanks so much, Jen! Enjoy your propolis tincture 🙂
I am allergic to pollen, but not honey. Would propolis be safe for me to use?
Hi Marissa! I must admit I’m a touch confused here, as all true honey contains pollen in some amount. That said, I don’t feel comfortable offering advice on allergens—especially in this case as propolis can vary widely in composition depending on the colony that collects it. I’d speak to your doctor about this one.
I found bee propolis online- here’s the link if you want to check it out:
http://www.honeypacifica.com/solid-propolis/
Thanks—this looks like a good option for those in the USA. They do ship to Canada, but between customs and international shipping costs a local (or at least in-country) source would be preferable.
Do you ever use this in soaps? Or would it work to grind the propolis and add it directly to soap? The local propolis that I’ve bought comes in a tiny pellet size – not sure how they get it that way.
Oh wait, that was bee pollen I bought, not propolis!
That makes a lot more sense 🙂 The pollen I have is also in lovely little golden hued pellets.
Not in bar soap, but I’ve added it to a liquid soap recipe that will be coming out soonish 🙂
Just wanted to share with you a friend’s (and fellow beekeeper) site for making propolis tincture – hope this helps someone! http://www.tc.umn.edu/~reute001/htm-files/Propolis%20extract.html
Thanks, Ann!
Hello,
I am interested in making the Egyptian balm and found the bee propolis tincture with alcohol from http:www.bee-pollen-buzz.com/beepropolis-products.html. Do you think this will be ok to use? If so which product should I get?
Thanks! Enjoy reading your blogs!
This one looks like a good choice 🙂
I made my tincture at 30% according to Gary on the Minnesota University link. I fall into the drop happy catagory. What ratio do I add it to myolive oil for face serum? How much to drinks. How many drops are in a dropper in a 2oz bottle? (Clueless)
Hi! I don’t drink my propolis, so I can’t speak to that (especially because the perfumery alcohol I use is all kinds of poisonous). A drop is generally about 1/20th of a mL, but drops are a very imprecise measurement, so that’s just a rough guide. And here are all the recipes I’ve made with propolis for some usage ideas and guidelines 🙂
Hi Marie!
I see that on some of these bee sites/store, bee tincture are premade.
Would these work for the Egyptian cream? Should I purchase ones with or without alcohol?
Thanks!
Storebought ones are totally fine, as are ones made with alcohol. Purchase whichever looks best to you 🙂
This might be an odd question, but can you make this with something like Vodka? I am a teetotaler and have a small bottle left from infusing herbs, so I’m curious!
If it’s quite high proof you probably can, but I would try a higher dilution than I did. Because my alcohol is very high proof, I felt pretty good about making a strong tincture, but you’ll likely need a larger volume of vodka to get the same alcohol punch.
I noticed the DIY called for “perfumey” alcohol, I am assuming that to be “isopropyl’ alcohol…NEVER ingest a tincture using ‘iso’ alcohol…IT IS POISONOUS…USE VODKA OR GRAIN ALCOHOL TO MAKE ALL INGESTIBLE TINCTURES…just saying!
It’s not supposed to be isopropyl alcohol (though you could use it instead). Perfumery alcohol does exist, as you can see in my photos—it has added solvents to help break down resinous EOs, which is very helping with super-sticky propolis.
And yes, obviously, don’t drink rubbing alcohol. All my recipes that call for this tincture are purely topical.
Hi Marie,
I finally got my hands on some local bee propolis from my local farmer’s market and tried making this using the instructions you gave. Now I only have Vodka as clear grain alcohol is no longer available at our LCBO stores in Ontario and since I want to ingest, that is the only thing I could use. Anyway, when I added the vodka my powdered propolis clumped up and is now one sticky clod at the bottom of my jar. It doesn’t look anything like your pictures. Is it supposed to do this?
Ana, it’s best to freeze the propolis and shatter it in a plastic bag before you add it to whatever alcohol you are going to tincture it in. Can you break it up somehow? You need to let it infuse for a few weeks before it can be used.
It sounds like she did break it up by grinding it up (like I did), so I don’t think chunk size is the problem here—probably just more time is required 🙂 I do like the freeze/hammer alternative for those without DIY coffee grinders, though—thanks!
The problem with grinding propolis is it heats it up and makes it sticky – so it makes sense that it stuck together. I make propolis tincture all the time (harvested from our hives) and freezing/shattering has been the way I’ve done it successfully. if you’ve had good luck with grinding it try freezing it first, it’ll be powdery 🙂
Definitely shake it as it’s brewing, that really helps. I keep the same container for tincturing, pouring off the finished product into another jar. Once you tincture in a jar you’ll never really get it clean again, so devote it to that purpose.
I love products of the hive!
Ha—now that you mention it, mine was straight from the cold fridge, so that might explain why mine worked, but Ana’s clumped. I have updated the instructions to indicate that frozen is best, thank you!
I’d just leave it for a while to let the alcohol do its thing—maybe shake it every few days to encourage the clump to soften up and dissolve a bit. Give it perhaps three weeks, and see how it does.
Do you know if a tincture can be made from capsules? I tried to search online but all recipes for tinctures seem to start with raw propolis. I have the capsules on hand already so it would be nice to try. Otherwise, I think I need to make a trip to the St. Lawrence market!
Hmm, I don’t really know. I would wonder if the capsules have a bunch of other things added to them, as many of them do. If that was the case, I would go grab yourself a bottle of the raw stuff. Actually, I’d just get the raw stuff as an excuse to visit the St. Lawrence! 😉
According to all references I’ve seen and experts I’ve heard in the bee world you really need the alcohol to extract the components of the propolis. I left a link to the instructions further up in these comments.
Thanks, Ann—that was my suspicion 🙂 I’m not really sure why one would feel the need to make an alcohol free tincture, but that’s just me 😛
Is there a recipe to make the tincture with no alcohol in it. Do you know what the alternative to alcohol is?
Honestly, propolis is so sticky and contains so many oils I think it really needs the alcohol to dissolve it—I’ve never seen a pure glycerin based propolis tincture, but you’re welcome to try it. I’d be interested to hear how it goes if you do 🙂 You could also try soaking it in oil, but that wouldn’t really be a tincture, but more of an infused oil.
I’m using this propolis for my super sensitive skin, and I’ve heard many times that alcohol might be really harsh for the skin…plus,I can’t even find the perfumery alcohol, have no idea what’s wrong with the drug stores in here…I’m in Egypt btw…I tried to figure out the Arabic name of the alcohol I did but still can’t find anything bot Ethyl alcohol in the drugstores
btw I really trust your products and I’m your biggest fan in Egypt
This tincture is only for use as part of larger formulations that will counter the effects of the alcohol—it definitely shouldn’t be applied straight! If you can’t get perfumery alcohol, any high-proof grain alcohol will work. Happy making!
Hello Marie,
I didn’t think I would want to make lotions after 8 months of making CP Soap but you’re recipes and videos make it easier to take a stab at it. I just made the propolis tincture and it was easy enough, however I wish I had put on gloves first. When I was squeezing the mixture out of the filters my fingers were all stained and sticky. YUK! I made enough where I don’t have to make any more for a while. Wondering if I should strain it again as I still see propolis collecting on the bottom of the jar. Thanks and I really enjoy your website and videos!
Susan
Yay! I’m so happy to have lured you into the world of lotion making 😀 And YES to the gloves—now that you mention it I am having flashbacks to the stickiness LOL. Ick! You definitely can strain it again if you want, just remember the gloves this time 😉 Happy making and thanks for reading!
Does the ratio of 2-4 for liquid depend on what you are using it for? If using it for something like a lip balm increase the ratio? Would leaving it more that 24 hours be harmful? What are the storage limitations for the end tincture I have seen 12-24 months is that your experience? Thanks
I’ve afraid I am far from a general tinctures expert—if you want to learn more you should definitely check out LisaLise! For this particular one; leaving it longer than 24 hours is fine, and given this is almost entirely alcohol, and at such high rates alcohol is self-preserving, I would say the shelf life of this is pretty much indefinite—that’s for spoilage, at least. For remaining beneficial, I’d probably look moreso to the time period you mentioned.
Marie, a quick question, is perfumery alcohol the alcohol that we mix with fragrance oil to make perfume? I could not find the alcohol in your picture anywhere on Amazon… Well, I have isopropyl 98% pure, do you think it will work the same way or I’d better get rubbing alcohol instead?
Lol, found it on Saffireblue now. Sorry for posting such a silly question. :p
Hi Marie,
We’re making our own tincture for some time now, but just got a question that I don’t know the answer to and was wondering if you do.
We make our tincture with 99% alcohol and basically use and sell it for wound treatment. Now a lady was dondering, if she can use a couple of drops in a cup with boiled water and honey, for a sore throat. Seeing it’s made of 9% honey, I don’t know if this is posible and if so, how many drops can be use?
Do you know?
Anna
I’m afraid I really cannot comment on ingestion, especially as a drug/medicine.
OK, thanks!
Hi, I would like to ask- do you think I can substitute the alcohol with glycerine? Thanks
It’s worth a try! Let me know how it turns out 🙂
Hi Marie,
Can I add bee propolis tincture to cold process soaps?
Thanks.
Siam
Hello Siam!
I did make a cp soap with bee propolis tincture, and it turned out ok. But I didn’t use a high amount of tincture. What I ended up doing was grating off some bee propolis and infusing it in some oils. But honestly, if I were to do it again, it would just be to be used as a selling feature. I didn’t notice anything special or different in the end result!
I thought rubbing alcohol was not good for humans.
I heard surgerical alchohol was okay.
While you definitely shouldn’t drink isopropyl alcohol, it is safe for topical use 🙂
Hi Marie,
Hope you are well and thanks for your amazing article. I was wondering if I can dissolve propolis tincture in a carrier oil and use it on my hair? I heard it’s great for hair loss and would love to give it a try. Thanks again!
If you want to do that I’d probably just try infusing the propolis directly in oil instead 🙂
Hello I make same I just adding vodka is better 😉
Hey Marie 🙂 I love all of your recipes. I’m curious if this tincture could be used as a propolis throat spray? The ingredients list on a bottle I have seen online includes purified water and vegetable glycerin. Can you make any suggestions on how to make a similar concoction? Or would this tincture made with grain alcohol work?
I’m afraid I don’t do edible/ingestible formulation, sorry!
Hi have you made propolis tincture with vegetable glycerine? I want make a child friendly version.