KEY INGREDIENT SPOTLIGHT

FUNCTIONAL HONEY

How Do Bees Make Honey? Honey bees obtain two things from flowers: nectar (for honey production) and pollen. As the female worker bee sucks nectar from flowers, it is stored in her special stomach or a "nectar backpack".  After visiting between 150 to 1500 flowers, her stomach is full and almost equal in weight to bee herself. At this point the worker bee returns to the hive with her load. Bees returning to the hive are greeted by other workers ready to relieve their load. A mouth to mouth transfer is done and the nectar she has gathered is barely recognizable as honey. The nectar initially is nearly 80% water with the remainder consisting of complex sugars. During the processing of the nectar small droplets are deposited on the upper side of a cell wall awaiting its final conversion into the honey. This conversion is largely an evaporation process which is hastened by the warm temperature (95 degrees F) maintained in the hive and the flow of air. The bees control the movement of air by fanning their wings in a coordinated effort. The buzzing sound coming from a hive (even at night when there is no flying) is due to this "forced evaporation" process. Functional honey is the cosmetic grade honey that is not quite ready for consumption, but the end result is thick, beautiful honey, perfect for our formulations.