How Honey Is Made

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

How is honey made?

Initially, honey is in the form of nectar in flowers, which is collected by bees and then turns into honey. Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid that contains about 80% water mixed with complex sugars and is produced in plants by the nectar glands. Some examples of sources of nectar in North America are flowers such as clover, dandelions, forest shrubs and the flowers of fruit trees. In a simple bee colony, worker bees collect nectar and raise stamens. Most hives have a mother queen, the number of males varying according to the season to create new queens and about 20,000 to 40,000 female workers.

The process of making honey

Worker bees use their long tubular tongues to suck nectar from flowers and plants and collect it in their "copper stomachs". Bees have the perfect equipment for this purpose, because in addition to their ordinary stomach, they also have one (copper stomach), which is specially designed to collect nectar. The copper stomach has the capacity to collect almost 70 mg of nectar and when it is full it reaches almost the weight of the bee itself. On average, bees visit between 100 and 1,500 flowers to fill their stomachs.

As soon as the bee returns to the hive with the nectar, it passes it on to the other workers, who suck it from the copper stomach through their mouths. Then they "chew" it for a while and so the food enzymes break down the complex sugars into ordinary sugars. This is done in order for the honey, then stored in the hive, to be easily accepted by the bees and not to be susceptible to bacteria. It is stored in the cells of the honeycomb.

At this stage, the nectar still has a relatively high water content, which causes this natural yeast to ferment sugars. Therefore, the next process in the preparation of honey is associated with blowing nectar from bees, using their wings. This creates a current and the remaining water evaporates. This makes the nectar thicker and the high sugar content protects it from fermentation. At this stage, the honey is called raw and if it is removed from the hive and properly sealed, it can last a long time. Otherwise, the bees themselves seal the honeycombs of the honeycomb with wax and store it as long as necessary.

Packaging of honey

Although we are used to seeing honey packaged in jars and tubes, it is also available in other forms. In one of its forms, called honey from the pie, whole pieces of the pie are sold, as well as honey in jars, in which there are also parts of the pie. Organic honey is considered one of the purest forms and is made according to strict prescriptions. There is also crystallized honey, pasteurized, raw honey, strained, ultrafiltered and dried honey.

Bees create honey as food for hungry years. When their seasonal food decreases, they use stored honey. A colony of bees eats between 120-200 pounds of honey a year. Commercial beekeepers shelter bees in hives and boxes or other containers and encourage them to overproduce honey, but without endangering the bees in any way.

Beekeeping may be a hobby, as many people with an interest in ecology and science already own several hives. In the books and on the Internet you can find the information you need about beekeeping and so, armed with ideas and appropriate equipment, you can produce your own honey.

The health benefits of honey are proven, as well as its natural value. It is an important ingredient in some foods and beverages, such as tea. Some of our favorite pastries, such as pancakes and waffles, would certainly be unfinished if we didn't add a little honey.