How bees produce honey and what are its properties

Honey is a highly sought after product by man: let's find out more about this precious food

Bees are the only animals that produce an edible substance for humans. honey is a delicious food that has been used by humans for thousands of years. It is used not only as a natural sweetener but also as a remedy and for the treatment of various human ailments and physical problems.

Honey is a very special substance with countless beneficial properties . It is an excellent source of nutrients and antioxidants, which help protect us from disease and improve our overall health. This substance also has very important antibacterial properties that can help prevent infections in wounds.

Let's find out together how bees produce honey , how the substance is composed and where to buy honey of the highest quality.

How bees make honey: let's find out together

Honey is a sweet and viscous food substance produced by bees. The variety produced by honey bees (genus Apis) is the most commonly referred to, but other bee species also produce similar products.

Bees produce honey by processing certain plant substances. The foraging bees go in search of nectar and pollen and then carry it inside the hive.

To obtain honey, bees transform the collected substances by mixing them with their saliva and with particular enzymes produced by themselves. The workers carry out this process continuously and once they have obtained the finished substance, they insert it inside the cells, storing it as a food supply .

The nectar is digested and then regurgitated into the hive as a super saturated solution of sugars, which crystallizes on cooling. The resulting consistency can vary from liquid to solid, depending on the amount of water removed during processing.

The process of making honey from nectar has been observed for centuries. Ancient peoples were aware of this process and often collected and stored excess honey for later use.

Honey is able to keep intact for years without decaying. This is because bees apply a ventilation process before storing it. By moving their wings together, the bees evaporate the residues of water present in the substance, reducing its humidity.

This process prevents the proliferation of bacteria, yeasts and molds and allows the substance to remain intact for years!

Properties of honey and composition of the substance

As for the composition of honey, it contains small amounts of glucose and fructose but its main ingredient is sucrose.

The percentage of each sugar varies according to the type of flower source visited by the bees. Honey also contains small amounts of minerals such as iron, copper, calcium and potassium.

Analyzing the substance it is also possible to find a high content of antioxidants thanks to its content of phenols (phenols are organic compounds present in plants). These phenols give honey its antimicrobial properties and also have anti-inflammatory effects in humans when consumed regularly over time (although large quantities should not be consumed without medical supervision).

Production of honey in beekeeping

Beekeepers can decide to direct bees to produce a certain type of honey. This happens above all in the case of nomadic beekeeping in which breeders transfer the apiaries where there are nectar sources and specific blooms where the bees will go to forage.

The different colors of honey derive from the flavoring substances present in the nectars, such as pollen or flower oils, absorbed during harvesting by the bees' body and wings.

Is consuming honey an ethical choice? How do beekeepers work?

Consuming honey is an absolutely ethical choice. beekeepers do not exploit bees but work in symbiosis with swarms. The work of beekeepers requires commitment, dedication and a lot of patience.

Beekeeping farms guarantee bees protection and protection while preserving their survival. Beekeepers provide the swarms with everything they need without interfering with their natural processes.

Today bees are very weak, causes such as pollution, rising temperatures but also the arrival of new predators, put the swarms that are in the wild in difficulty. 

Beekeepers help bees survive. What is important to underline is that honey withdrawal does not in any way compromise the health and strength of a colony . Beekeepers only take a small part of the honey produced. The rest is left to the swarm as a food supply for survival.

Wholesale and retail of honey - Apicoltura Laterza

Would you like to buy honey of the highest quality? Choose Laterza beekeeping! We are leaders in the online wholesale of honey. We offer the best of our products, vigorously MADE IN ITALY.

We are professional beekeepers. We have also been involved in the production and sale of queen bees, cores and bee packs for years.

Find out more about or buy in a few clicks on the website: www.apicolturalaterza.it