What is honey?
Basically honey is a sugar solution of the two simple sugars, glucose (dextrose) and fructose. It does not occur naturally. It is solely a product of the honey bee. It is produced from plant nectar that is high in moisture content which bees collect and convert into honey.
Honey is not only made up of sugars it also contains minerals, vitamins, acids, pigments, enzymes and aroma compounds. It is more viscous and concentrated than nectar.
To change nectar into honey the bees must:
* Convert the nectar sugars into the two sugars of honey (sucrose+water—with invertase = glucose+
fructose) (invertase is an enzyme that the bees manufacture and add)
* Evaporate a majority of the water out of the nectar
How do bees convert the natural products into honey?
Bees reduce the water level of nectar through the process of evaporation.
Hive bees take a portion of the nectar load from an incoming forager bee and seek a quiet place in the
hive to begin nectar conversion in a process called active evaporation. They regurgitate a portion of the
nectar from their honey stomach to produce a bubble in their mouthparts which allows the bubble to
evaporate in the warm hive. The bubble is taken back into their honey stomach, mixed with the
remainder of the nectar and another bubble is produced. This process is repeated several times over
several minutes.
The second phase of nectar ripening is termed passive evaporation. Following the bubble-blowing
activity, the bees then begin storing the now ripening nectar in beeswax cells. They place droplets of
honey stomach contents in beeswax cells to create a large surface for continued rapid evaporation. Bees
consolidate the droplets as evaporation proceeds in the warm hive environment (where the bees speed
up evaporation with air circulation). In a few days, the enzymes and dry hive air yield fully ripened
honey.
What do the bees do with the ripened honey?
Note: While nectars vary from 5 to 80% water (most are 20 to 50%), the final water content of honey is less than 20% (17 to 19%).
The bees fill the cells with honey and cap the full beeswax cells with a wax lid. In this form honey lasts indefinitely, protected by its high sugar content, thick viscosity and generation of the antimicrobial hydrogen peroxide.
Uses
Sweetener, quick energy source, provides special flavors to foods., keeps baked goods fresher for a longer period of time, vehicle for medicine, medicine (sore throats, burn relief, etc.), allergy relief, antiseptic, ingredient in cosmetics & lotions, ingredient in gum, antifreeze, golf ball center and mead.
From:
Caron, D. (2009). Honey bee biology and beekeeping. 2nd ed. Kalamazoo, MI: Wicas Press.