Honey is a product of animal origin that human beings have been using since life in caves. In the past, leftover honey was collected from wild hives. Currently, the bee has undergone a certain degree of domestication and its honey and other derived products can be obtained through beekeeping Honey is not only a powerful and energetic food, but also has medicinal properties
You want to know more? In this article on our site you can discover how bees make honey, as we will detail the process they follow to make it and what they use it for. Find out below!
How is honey collected?
The collection of honey begins with a dance A worker bee goes out in search of flowers, during this search it can travel long distances (more than 8 km). When she finds a potential food source, she rushes to her hive to alert her hive matesto help her collect as much food as possible.
The way the bees inform the rest is through a dance, through which they are able to make it known with high precision in which direction the food source is located, how far away it is and how abundant it is. During this dance, the bees vibrate their abdomen in such a way that they are able to tell all this to the rest of the hive.
Once the group is informed, they go out to meet the flowers. From them you can obtain two substances, nectar, coming from the female part of the flower and pollen, which they collect from the male part. Next, we will see what these two substances are for.
The production of honey
Bees use nectar to make honey When they come to a nectar-rich flower, they They suck with their proboscis, which is a trunk-shaped oral organ. The nectar is retained in special sacs connected to the stomach, so if the bee needs energy to continue flying, it can take it from the accumulated nectar.
When they can't carry any more nectar, they return to the hive and, once there place it in a honeycomb, along with some salivary enzymes. With a strong and sustained movement of their wings, the bees dehydrate the nectar by evaporating the water. As we have said, in addition to the nectar, the bees add some special enzymes that they have in their saliva, necessary for the transformation into honey. Once the enzymes have been added and the nectar has been dehydrated, the bees close the honeycomb with a unique wax that these animals produce thanks to special glands called glands ceriferas. Over time, this combination of nectar and enzymes turns into honey.
Have you ever thought that honey is bee vomit? As you have seen, this is not the case, the transformation of nectar into honey is an process external to the animal. Nectar is not vomit either, since it is not partially digested food, but a sugary substance from flowers, which bees are able to store in their body.
What do bees make honey for?
Honey, together with pollen, are the foods that bee larvae will ingest Pollen, collected from the same flowers, it is not directly digestible by bee larvae. It needs to be kept in combs, the bees add salivary enzymes, honey to prevent air from entering, and wax to seal the comb. After a certain time, the pollen becomes digestible by the larvae.
Honey provides glucose to larvae and pollen, proteins.
Why are there different types of honey?
Have you ever wondered why there are so many different types of honey on the market? Each species of flowering plant produces nectar and pollen of different consistency, smell and colorDepending on the flowers that the bees of a hive can access, the honey that will be produced will have a different color and flavor.
Do you want to know more about bees?
Bees are essential animals for the environment, because thanks to pollination, the planet's ecosystems are kept in harmony, therefore, we invite you to discover what would happen if there were no bees in this EcologíaVerde video where they tell us about the importance of these animals. Likewise, you can also continue investigating and discover the species of bees that exist or how a bee becomes a queen.
