How is Honey Made:
The Fair Exchange
When she returns to the colony, the newly minted
monosaccharides in her honey stomach are
regurgitated, much like a bird, into the mouth of
another drone.
This other worker will chew the concoction for
up to thirty minutes more… and the process is
continued until the glucose/fructose ready for the
next step in the honey-honing process.
The fan and cap.
How is Honey Made:
The Fan & Cup
The fructose/glucose concoction that we call honey,
after traveling from the flower blossom back to the
hive and then making the rounds between bees, is
STILL not in a form we would recognize.
At the stage in the honey game, the “honey” is
more of a runny consistency when the bees first
deposit it inside the honeycomb “cups.” There is a
final process needed to get it to that sticky sweet
viscosity we all know and love… and that’s what
we call, “The Fan and Cap.”
While the viscosity of the soon to be “honey” has
been getting higher and higher as it makes its
way from honey stomach to mandibles to honey
stomach, when it is deposited inside the honey
comb, it is still too “runny” for the bees’ liking. So
begins the process of fanning.
The uncapped honey is fanned by the bee’s wings,
further raising the viscosity by increasing the
evaporation. When the honey reaches the right
viscosity, it is capped, and the bees move on to
the next one.
The high viscosity of honey gives it a high
osmotic pressure and protection against
microbes. It’s too thick for bugs to mess with!
And that’s how honey is made, and will help to
explain why there are so many medicinal benefits
associated with honey. Read on to find some of
the coolest reasons we’ve found why you should
raise bees and harvest your honey locally.
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