Wednesday, August 15, 2018

What Honey Can (and Can't) Do




Honey’s been used to heal wounds, ease allergies, and sweeten things up for centuries. Can it really do everything it gets credit for?



How Do Bees Make Honey?

It begins when a honeybee stops at a flower and sucks out the sweet liquid nectar. She stores the nectar in a special sac called a honey crop, where enzymes break it down into simple sugars. Back at the hive, other bees move the nectar into honeycombs. They hover above the cells, creating a breeze that dries out the nectar until it becomes honey, and then seal the cells with wax. Bees visit 2 million flowers to make a pound of honey.