Oh, honey...

Nothing is sweeter than honey. But do we all know how it is actually produced? Ever since I was very young I have heard the most diverse theories: some say that it is the faeces of bees, while some say that they carry it on their paws. So here I am to clarify any doubts! Let's start from the beginning. Foraging bees (one of the roles taken by every worker bee during their life, but I'll make another post about it ;-)) fly from flower to flower to drink the nectar. The nectar collected then deposited in a special organ called the honey sack, in which there are innumerable enzymes, which transform the nectar into honey by absorbing the water inside it. So is honey formed? Of course not. We are only at the beginning. In fact, the substance now created is too liquid to be adequately preserved. So at this point the bees are back in the hive, and the first bee vomits the substance into the mouth of another bee in the hive, which in turn will introduce it into its honey sack, absorbing some more water. This process continues through several subjects until the substance is dry enough. Now the bee will vomit the substance into a wax cell, where the honey will be stored. But the water hasn't evaporated enough!! To make sure that the honey doesn't have almost any water in it, a group of bees will get around the cell where the newly deposited honey is and begin to flap their wings very hard, in order to allow the last droplets of water to evaporate. Only now our honey is ready! At this moment the bees will cover the cell with other wax, in order to close it and mark the honey contained as ready. The cell will only be opened when needed. And here is the honey ready and canned. It will be able to last for a very very long time without getting mouldy or going bad thanks to the high sugar concentration and low humidity. How long will it last you ask? For centuries if not millennia. In fact, jars of edible honey have been found in Egyptian tombs. Crazy, isn't it?

Enjoy!

V.