Background Information

• A bee visiting a flower
  
  There is nothing as wonderful as fresh honey in your tea or on a piece of toast in the morning. The honey making process first starts when the honeybee visits a flower and gathers the nectar that is available. It is when the honeybee gathers the nectar that they are able to take the pollen grains from one flower and pollinate another flower which in turn makes more honey later on.
  
  

Collecting the Nectar

• Collecting nectar
  
  When the worker honeybee takes the nectar from the flower it is stored in her honey "stomach" which all female honeybees have. Essentially a backpack for carrying the nectar, it is completely separate from her digestive stomach, meaning that she can carry the nectar from anywhere between 150 and 1500 flowers as she goes through her day. In fact, she carries so much nectar that it is equivalent to her own weight by the time she is done. When she has collected as much as she can carry she heads back to the hive to start the process of making the honey.
  
  

Collecting the Pollen

• Back to get the pollen
  
  It is interesting to note that the honeybee worker never collects both the nectar and the pollen on the same trip. After collecting the nectar she heads back out to pick up all the pollen grains which she keeps in hair like "baskets" that are located behind the hind legs. These bees can easily be spotted because of their bright orange posterior which you can see when they land. Also, when they walk they tend to waddle, especially when they have a large load of pollen. Eventually they collect enough pollen and head back to the hive again to start the transfer of both the nectar and the pollen.
  
  

Transferring Nectar and Pollen

• The transfer is done through a mouth to mouth process between a field bee and one of the other hive bees whose only job is to transfer the goods. Together the bees process the honey in their mouths with the help of enzymes that can break down the complex sugars found in the nectar. It then turns into simple sugars that can be easily digested by the bees and is what gives honey the ability to last for years once it is made.
  
  

The Final Honey Making Process

• The final product - Sweet and tasty!
  
  Initially before the use of the enzyme process, the honey is 80% water. This is why it must be processed with enzymes from the field bee. After this is done, small drops are then brought to the hive wall where it will await the final conversion. This final conversion happens over a long period of time when the water droplets within the honey evaporate by the warm temperatures in the hive and the movement of air that the honeybees cause by fanning their wings as a way to get the honey to "cook." What you are left with is a sticky and sweet tasting honey that you will certainly enjoy.