To be strictly correct, honey doesn't come from a bee -- bees make honey from nectar. Foraging bees suck nectar from flowers, swallow it and store it in a honey crop, a special type of stomach which comes before the actual digestive system stomach. This nectar does not enter the bee's digestive system. As the bees swallow the nectar they add enzymes from glands opening into the mouth. When the forager bee returns to the hive she (they are all female) regurgitates the nectar and passes it to one of the hive bees who adds more enzymes. The nectar may be passed from bee to bee in this way several times before it is finally deposited into a cell on the honeycomb. The enzymes added by the bees are important in converting the nectar into honey. They break down the complex sugars in the nectar into simple sugars -- for example, sucrose is broken down into glucose and fructose. They also produce compounds which give honey its anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. When the nectar is first stored it contains up to 90 percent water. With this amount of water it wouldn't store for long without fermenting, so the bees fan the cells with their wings. This air movement, together with the heat in the hive, evaporates the water. When the water content is down to about 16 percent the bees consider the honey ready and seal the cells with caps of wax.
"When the forager bee returns to the hive she (they are all female) regurgitates the nectar and passes it to one of the hive bees who adds more enzymes. "
so honey is bee throw-up!
YUM!!
(alcohol is from the yeast a$$holes)
No, it's more like bee vomit.
good gosh, i hope not. ha haaaaaaaaa.
