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#36: Honey


 
Litinsects #36: Honey 

Honey is the only insect-made product consumed by humans! But how exactly is it made?
 
It all starts with a forager bee collecting nectar from flowers. The nectar is stored in a special sac called a CROP or honey stomach and transported back to the hive, where it is regurgitated and ingested by a processor bee. Inside the bee’s honey stomach special glands secrete proteins and ENZYMES, which begin to break down large sugar molecules into smaller ones and change the chemical composition of the nectar. The regurgitation and ingestion process happens multiple times until finally the pre-honey is put into a hexagonal cell made of beeswax inside the hive. Bees fan the nectar with their wings which evaporates a lot of water and raises the sugar content, preventing microbes from being able to grow. Finally, the cell is capped with wax and the honey can be stored for the bees to eat later. Because honey sustains a hive over the winter, beekeepers can’t take all the honey from a hive. But bees usually make much more than they need for themselves.
 
Now for some honey fun facts 🍯 🐝
  • Honey has antimicrobial properties and is the only food that does not go bad. Archaeologists have found honey in ancient Egyptian tombs that was 3,000 years old and still edible!
  • Bee products like honey and beeswax have been used by humans since 7,000 BCE!
  • A bee produces only a fraction of a teaspoon of honey in its entire lifetime
  • A hive collectively flies about 55,000 miles to produce a pound of honey
  • Not all bees make honey and not all honey is made by bees! (Some wasps do as well)
  • The type of flowers from which the bees collect nectar determine flavor and color of the honey
So next time you’re eating some sweet delicious honey, just remember it’s been regurgitated multiple times by insects 😛
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