HONEY FACTORIES - HOW DO THE BEES MAKE HONEY?
What is honey? Why and how do the bees make honey? Have you ever wondered while stirring honey into your tea? Hundreds of varieties of this golden liquid are harvested in the United States, and thousands around the globe. Nevertheless, the method never changes, only the flower, the season and the territory of the crop.
WHY?
The bees make and stock honey because it is fantastic, nutrient-dense, energy-rich food that never goes bad. When the cold days come and there is no other food available - bees live off honey. The honey-making process starts in a field of blooming flowers where worker bees pick up nectar. Nectar contains about 80% water along with an array of complex sugars. Left in this state, nectar is susceptible to fermentation. Consequently, to store this sugary liquid, bees need to turn it into honey. …show more content…
Here, a specialized forager bee with her tube-like tongue sipps up nectar from the flowers. As she does that, her hairy body traps pollen and carries it between flowers helping plants to reproduce - this process is called pollination. A honeybee visits between 100 and 1500 flowers before her honey stomach is full. Yes, honey stomach. Bees have two stomachs: one for digesting and one that is used as a honey sac, where the enzymes begin to break nectar down into simple sugars. A tiny bee fills up her honey sac with as much in nectar as her own body weight and than she is on her way back
What is honey? Why and how do the bees make honey? Have you ever wondered while stirring honey into your tea? Hundreds of varieties of this golden liquid are harvested in the United States, and thousands around the globe. Nevertheless, the method never changes, only the flower, the season and the territory of the crop.
WHY?
The bees make and stock honey because it is fantastic, nutrient-dense, energy-rich food that never goes bad. When the cold days come and there is no other food available - bees live off honey. The honey-making process starts in a field of blooming flowers where worker bees pick up nectar. Nectar contains about 80% water along with an array of complex sugars. Left in this state, nectar is susceptible to fermentation. Consequently, to store this sugary liquid, bees need to turn it into honey. …show more content…
Here, a specialized forager bee with her tube-like tongue sipps up nectar from the flowers. As she does that, her hairy body traps pollen and carries it between flowers helping plants to reproduce - this process is called pollination. A honeybee visits between 100 and 1500 flowers before her honey stomach is full. Yes, honey stomach. Bees have two stomachs: one for digesting and one that is used as a honey sac, where the enzymes begin to break nectar down into simple sugars. A tiny bee fills up her honey sac with as much in nectar as her own body weight and than she is on her way back