Honey: The Unanswered Question

You drizzle it over biscuits and squeeze it into your tea but do you actually know where honey comes from? Don’t roll your eyes yet! We all know honeybees make honey, but the questions is HOW do they do it?

Ingredients

Honey creation evolves out of the sweat, blood and tears of honeybees. In the springtime, buzzing through flower patches, honeybees collect nectar with their proboscis, or tongue, and carry it away to the hive.

Pollen Poppers and Nectar Smackers

It’s important to note that pollen and nectar have different functions! Worker bees carrying nectar play a key role in the production of honey, while bees searching for pollen bring it back to the hive to use as food for new bees. 

Stomach This

Female worker bees have TWO different stomachs. One special stomach stores nectar and the other serves for digestive purposes. Out on a nectar run, a worker bee will stop to fill up at 150 to 1500 flowers. Whew, talk about being full!

The Conversion

Swirling around the bee’s stomach, nectar combines with enzymes that turn glucose into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide.  Bees regurgitate and re-digest the nectar to achieve a desirable consistency. Digestion and the enzymes transform nectar into a form of watery honey. For more on the antimicrobal, health benefits of gluconic acid in honey, click here.

The Hive Jive

Back at the hive, worker bees spread droplets of the honey mixture into the upper cells of the wax-based honeycomb. In order to store and thicken the honey, bees fan their wings to create uniform air movement and to waft away extra moisture.

Good Stuff

Bees live off of a small amount of the honey that they produce. Beekeepers remove the honeycomb and drain the excess, ripe honey. The end product is solid, evaporated flower nectar. All natural and delicious!

Next time you’re buying local honey, don’t forget the hard-working bees or the dedicated beekeepers. To celebrate these local traditions, we’re planning a visit to Kentner Farms, to see how it all goes down in person! More on that later!

FeelGoodNow Contributor: Chrissie Nims

This wild cookie gobbler enjoys roaming the online world, exploring new marketing strategies and meeting new people. Chrissie satisfies her sweet tooth with healthy, all natural recipes that make her sugary guilt melt away. She loves discovering secret, sunny spots during the winter, skiing and taming wild, rambunctious ponies. 


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