How is honey made and what is it made of?

Even though most know that honey is made by worker bees, very few can describe the process of making honey with any accuracy. And it turns out that it’s a very interesting process…

Bees make honey from nectar found in plant blossoms. Nectar is a sweet liquid that insects feed on. In order to gather enough nectar, bees visit thousands of flowers and fly countless kilometres as they forage. So could we, after a little wading in the meadows and collecting nectar, make ourselves some honey if we knew the recipe? It turns out that the secret to making honey lies in the bees themselves and not in the nectar. The nectar collected or, to be more precise, drunk by bees ends up in one of their two stomachs, where it is processed by some very special digestive enzymes. Doesn’t sound all that appetizing, right? Read on…

After a long journey foraging in the fields, the nectar is already partially digested by the time it returns to the hive, where the gatherer bee passes it on to another bee that, in turn, passes it on to the next bee. This process is slightly like a game of broken telephone: the nectar is sent along a chain of bees into the heart of the hive, where it is poured into a honeycomb cell. So, how do the bees pass this nectar along, you ask? Well, definitely not hand to hand, but through their proboscises (tube-like mouth parts). Thus, every bee adds some of its own enzymes to this nectar product. This makes it even more nutritionally valuable.

Another crucial stage of the honey production process is its fermentation in the honeycomb. Once the bees pour the nectar into the honeycomb cells, they remain nearby to ventilate the nectar with their wings and make it denser, then later seal it with wax and leave it to mature. The fermentation process in the cell turns the complex carbohydrates into simple and easily absorbable carbohydrates, namely, glucose and fructose. This is why honey tastes so sweet the second we give it a lick.

So, you say this honey production technology seems a little unhygienic? Scientists have recently discovered that bee bread, which the larvae of worker bees are fed, contains chemical compounds that turn bees completely sterile. This is why honey and other bee products have such a long shelf life! Honey in perfectly good condition was even found in the Pharaohs’ pyramids. Of course, no brave soul has turned up to actually try it… Fortunately, Brolių Medus honey gets delivered straight to your door – fresh and delicious. So, enjoy it without hesitation!