The process starts with Nectar Collection:
- Worker bees scout out flowers, often sticking to a single floral source that changes during the seasons. In spring we see them on lavender, dandelions, and fruit trees in our yard. During the summer months, they typically collect from false dandelions, clover and ivy. Later, in the fall they prefer goldenrod.
- Bees will travel up to five miles from the hive to collect nectar and pollen from these flowers.
- Using their proboscis (long tongue), they suck nectar from the flower’s stamen. Often a single bee will visit 50 to 100 flowers to collect enough nectar in a single flight.
- The nectar will mix with bee saliva in their honey stomach, and the complex sugars start to break down into simple sugars.
- Bees will carry back up to 70% of their body weight in nectar during each flight. A typical bee weights about 90 to 100 milligram.
Then, when the worker bees return to the hive, the nectar is transferred to the house bees.
- House bees sample the nectar and either approve or deny it.
- Approved nectar is transferred from one bee’s crop (honey sack) to another.
- House bees then deposit it into hexagon-shaped beeswax cells, sorted by source and type.
Once the nectar is stored, it is processed.
- In the honeycomb cells, worker bees “chew-on” and regurgitate the nectar, repeating until its chemical properties change into what we call honey.
- During this process bees sometimes add glucose oxidase enzymes. These enzymes convert glucose into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide, which helps preserve the honey.
- This process helps ensure the sugar doesn’t crystallize too fast, prevents microbes from contaminating it, and ensures the honey can be stored for long periods.
Then, the honey is Dehydrated and Capped (the excess water is dried away)
- Raw nectar can have water content over 70%. This is too much water activity for safe storage.
- Bees will fan their wings over the nectar to evaporate the excess water.
- Once the moisture reduces below 20%, cells are capped with beeswax.
Interesting Facts:
- One pound of honey requires nectar from nearly 2 million flowers!
- A drop of honey represents the work of approximately hundreds of bees throughout their lifetime.
- Bees communicate flower and nectar location by doing wiggle dances.
- Typical hives have about 60,000 bees.