how do bees make honey exactly?
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Honey starts its life as nectar, which is sugar water with some other stuff in it that flowers make to tempt pollinators into visiting. A bee will fill its tiny bee tummy full of nectar – but it’s not the normal eating stomach, it’s a different organ called a “homey stomach”.
The honey stomach contains enzymes that break down certain of the sugars in the nectar; this helps prevent the sugar from crystallizing in the honey.
The nectar is passed from the foraging bee to a bee that stays at home, which regurgitates and re-swallows the honey repeated over the course of about 30-60 minutes, which helps mix it up and make sure the enzymes hit all of it, and also removes water – if the honey has a low enough amount of water, it won’t go bad. The bee may transfer the honey to another bee at some point in this process as well. The bee then transfers the honey to a cell in the comb, and it or other bees wave their wings over the honey to further dry it out through evaporation. When a cell is full and the honey concentrated enough, the cell is sealed with wax, further helping prevent spoilage.
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