Savannah Bee Company in Georgia just posted some very helpful information that we wanted to share with our readers.
From Savannah Bee…
The table you set started in the hive!
“Bees support more than 100 U.S. crops. Pollinators are responsible for 1 in 3 bites of food we eat. Consider these five things worth knowing about our favorite pollinators:
*They support 100+ U.S. crops. From almonds to zucchini, the USDA credits bees with pollinating the food that sustains us.
*They shape entire ecosystems. Without pollinators, ecological webs collapse. Protecting bees means protecting landscapes far beyond the orchard.
*Bees practice “flower fidelity”. A bee returns to the same bloom type during a forage trip. This precision is why Tupelo honey tastes like nothing else.
*Wild bees are just as vital. Thousands of native, wild bee species work alongside honeybees to keep agriculture and nature thriving.
*Hives create more than honey. From beeswax to royal jelly, the hive’s diverse bounty reminds us it is a living system worth protecting. “
As gardeners, let’s be intentional in doing our part to provide seasonal foraging opportunities for the bees in our own gardens. Look for plants that offer a steady stream of blooms from spring until winter.
Avoid using chemicals, if possible. This helps to protect the hives from harmful toxins.
Over the past few years, I’ve become more focused on creating a pollinator friendly environment in my garden. Thankfully it is now visited daily by a large honeybee population. It is fascinating to observe how this “teamwork” approach to pollination gives great results. Overall, here are my top three favorite blossoms to share with the bees!
My A, B, C’s for attracting pollinators:
Anise HyssopBorageCalendula
For additional pollinator friendly plant ideas, click here.
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
We are now entering the final month of our year-long journey into the world of honeybees and honey production. Along the way, we’ve attempted to answer the introductory question that started this series…’What’s all the buzz about’?
January began with a brief overview that introduced our readers to some of the topics we would be exploring in 2023. Starting with the “Anatomy of a Honeybee” and “What is Honey?” followed by “The Three Different Types of Honeybees in a Hive” to the “Let’s Dance!” article which explained the purposeful and very necessary “waggle dance” routine performed by worker bees, some amazing information has been shared monthly.
We’ve grown in our understanding of how honey is made, the reason behind the various colors and tastes which ultimately depends on the soil, source and other environmental factors. Hopefully, after reading the article about “Tasting Honey”, you were able to land on a favorite new variety. For me, the most appealing taste profile, at this time, is the earthiness of Black Sage Honey with notes of fruit and pepper. Remember, it’s the one that is harvested only four times per decade!
After discovering secrets of the colony, we were amazed at how efficiently these tiny insects perform their specific duties within a brief, but highly productive, lifespan. Think of worker bees as soldiers and the most active bee of their species. Drones are the male population of the honeybees with their only purpose in life being to stay alive long enough to have the chance of breeding with a queen – a process that occurs only once in their life.
Honeybees are fascinating and brilliant creatures. Without them, our world would be a much different place. Consider these numbers: bees are responsible for pollinating about one-sixth of flowering plant species worldwide and approximately 400 different agricultural types of plants. Simply stated, we rely on the pollination efforts of bees (and other animals) to sustain our modern food system.
On a personal note, my appreciation for honeybees has grown immensely. I now approach them more respectfully and welcome their presence in my garden. And I must admit that one of the highlights of spending time with honeybees throughout the year was the absolute joy of teaching my adorable 8-year-old granddaughter how to photograph honeybees with my new iPhone 15 camera.
We talked about how honeybees were in the garden to perform very important tasks and not to sting us. I watched as she carefully and slowly grew in her confidence about approaching the bees as they foraged for nectar and pollen. Observing as she moved gently closer to the bees and with her precious little hands, snapped the button just in time to capture the perfect shot, was an experience I’ll treasure. (Be sure to see her “first honeybee” photograph in the September frame of the movie!)
In closing, I’ve made an important decision regarding my personal relationship with honeybees. Becoming a “beekeeper” is not the right project for me at this season and time of my life. Instead, my desire is to be more intentional about creating specific pollinator-friendly options and opportunities throughout my gardens for the honeybees. Writing about honeybees this year has helped me to discover a longer list of seasonal plants that will be attractive to all pollinators. It’s time for a new journey and I can’t wait to get started!
And finally, the meaning behind the title, “Telling the Bees”, is something I stumbled across while doing research about honeybees. It is an old Western European beekeeping tradition in which bees are told of everything that goes on in their keeper’s family, including births, deaths, illnesses and marriages. Bees are, therefore, treated as extended members of their own family. Beekeepers talk to the bees in calm voices and never use harsh words for fear of upsetting the bees. It is a fascinating story worth reading. Also, click on the link to poems written by John Greenleaf Whittier and Eugene Field entitled “Telling the Bees.”
Here are the two December recipes featuring honey:
For the past few weeks, I’ve been spending countless hours in the garden. It didn’t take long to notice the increased level of honeybee activity occurring from early morning until evening. The bees are everywhere during daylight hours and seem to be buzzing around the flowers with a frenzy in their movements. It is truly fascinating to watch.
Why, I wondered, is fall such a busy time for the bees? One interesting explanation that I stumbled across was that honeybees have switched from needing protein to feed their young to craving carbohydrates before they die later in the season. Seems rather sad but, as we know, the lifespan of a honeybee is relatively short – a few weeks to maybe six months, at the most.
I also discovered that as long as the weather is mild, honeybees will continue to forage throughout the autumn months. During this time, worker bees spend many hours collecting enough nectar (carbohydrates) and pollen (protein) to feed and maintain the colony throughout the winter. Keeping the hive alive during the winter months is a priority. In order for this to happen, worker bees will need to be especially vigorous and healthy.
(NOTE: In the summer months a hive can have about 60,000 bees, but only about 10,000 bees are needed to ensure a colony survives the cold winter weather. As honeybees start preparing for winter, most drones (male honeybees) are evicted from the hive. Since drones have one purpose only – to mate with a queen – when their work is over, out they go.)
As the days grow shorter and colder, the remaining honeybees will form what is referred to as a “winter cluster”. The queen and her brood are kept at the center of this globe-like cluster while worker bees shiver or vibrate their wing muscles, generating enough heat to keep the hive warm in even very cold temperatures. On mild winter days, as we often experience in Zone 8, bees will come out of the hive to dispose of waste products, clean the hive and forage.
However, since there aren’t many options for foraging in the middle of winter, fall nectar and pollen gathering is critical to the hive’s continued survival. We can play an important role in supporting the honeybees during this time by taking a few steps to help them in their work.
*Plant late blooming plants that provide the nectar and pollen bees need. Some examples include fall asters, borage, calendula, frostweed, goldenrod, hibiscus, pentas, salvia and zinnias. We have pictures of most of these pollinator plants above.
*Plan to leave your basil plants in the ground until the first “cold snap” or freeze. I’ve noticed more honeybees on my fall basil plants than anything else in the garden.
*Provide a fresh water source (shallow container) and add some pebbles or twigs for the bees to land on while drinking.
Black Sage Honey, (Salvia mellifera)
Sometime around the middle of September, while visiting our youngest son and his family, we started a conversation about the different flavors of honey. He wanted to know if I had ever heard of Black Sage Honey. My answer was “yes”, but I had never tasted it. Immediately, he brought out a jar, opened it and, together, we all sampled a delicious, peppery honey that was truly unique.
Later that evening, I did an online search to learn more about “black sage”. Here is a brief summary of what I learned about this amazing plant from Specialty Produce.
“Black Sage is a powerfully fragrant, woody shrub that quickly grows to an average of one meter in height and width. More mature plants can reach up to 1.8 meters. The plant has tiny hairs coating the stems and leaves in a sliver-green fuzz, and flowers that range from white to pale blue or lavender grow in spherical clusters known as whorls, along the square stems. The small, oval, dark-green pebbled leaves can look almost black from a distance, especially during dry conditions, and the stem and whorls harden and turn black at the end of the season – all characteristics believed to have influenced the plant’s name. Black Sage leaves produce a strong, herbal, sometimes minty scent and offer a mildly astringent, herbaceous flavor.”
After learning that black sage is recommended for USDA Zones 8-10, I began searching for a grower. Mountain Valley Growers in Squaw Valley, California had the plants in stock, so my order was quickly placed. I purchased a total of three plants. They arrived on October 20th and, after acclimating for a few days, were put into the ground this week.
New planting of Black Sage. It will receive about six hours of sun followed by dappled shade in the late afternoon.
And finally, what’s all the “buzz” about Black Sage Honey? Black sage is native to Southern California and Northern Mexico. It flowers only about every three years. That translates to a very rare honey that is made only about four seasons per decade! Thankfully, I was able to find a jar from Savannah Bee Company and am happy to share this simple recipe with everyone. My recommendation is to experience the wild and earthy taste on its own then decide how you would best enjoy using it. Drizzled over brie cheese and fresh fall figs is my first choice!
Almost every country on the planet has a story about the relationship between humans and their bees. Let’s cruise through some of the more entertaining facts pertaining to one of the most fascinating insects in the world. Consider how the flowing sweetness of honey has, since ancient times, given us eloquent phrases associated with “honeyed words”. Even bee behavior has been identified with our own in phrases such as a dominate female being referred to as a “queen bee”, or when hard at work it might imply that we are “as busy as a bee”. Such symbolism has its roots in ancient cultures of the world.
Bees in Mythology *San (Bushman) of southern Africa left prehistoric spiritual rock drawings of bees and their nests suggesting that bees had a special importance in the Stone Age. *Prehistoric cave drawings in La Cueva de la Arana in eastern Spain show images of how early humans plundered wild bees’ nests for honey.
*The Myceneans, an indigenous Greek civilization dating back to the 16 th century BC, used images of bees on their beehive shaped tombs. *Ancient Mayas of Mesoamerica kept native stingless bees and celebrated the bee god, Ah Mucan Cab, by downing honey and balche, an alcoholic honey drink. *In 1653, construction workers near the church of Saint-Brice in Tournai discovered over 300 beautiful gold and garnet cloisonne bees in the tomb of Childeric (440-482), king of the Franks. Sadly, in 1831, thieves broke into the library of the Bibliotheque nationale de France, where they were stored, stealing hundreds of pounds of gold artifacts, including Childeric’s treasure. A significant portion was melted down, leaving only two little bees in existence today.
The story of Childeric’s bees made such a strong impression on Napoleon Bonaparte that, ultimately, the bee became the new emblem of the French Empire. Even more specifically, the bee came to represent Napoleon intimately, serving as his personal emblem. He was given the nickname, the Bee. Shortly afterwards, Napoleon’s friend and miniature portraitist, Jean-Baptiste Isabey, took to the task of redesigning Childeric’s bees. His resulting design was immensely handsome. Soon enough it became suitable for fashionable wear, and would come to dominate the interiors, decorative art, fashion and material culture of the Napoleonic court. Even today, the bee emblem is used on French glassware, cutlery, linens, upholstery fabric and cosmetics.
Globally, we continue to celebrate the influence of the honeybee found in themed fabrics, jewelry, paper goods, decorative items and so much more. Looking back across time, it is an enduring reminder of the indelible mark bees have left on mankind. Enjoy these timeless images of the impact honeybees and their beloved honey have in our world today!
September’s featured honey recipe transitions us from a cherished summer fruit…peaches…to some time-honored autumn favorites…pecans and sweet potatoes. Feast on a stack of these warm and lightly spiced pancakes and you’ll be swooning with joy. Just don’t forget the maple syrup!
Sweet Potato Pancakes with Spiced Pecans and Fresh Peach Butter, recipe below
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
Perhaps the first question that comes to mind is if honeycomb is truly edible. The answer is yes but the reason why is worth exploring. Honeycomb is made from beeswax but it’s important to know how it comes into the hive. As we’ve already learned, bees forage for nectar, which is necessary for the development of honey and, therefore, the development of honeycomb.
So, let’s start at the beginning. Bees collect nectar by sucking it up their tongues and storing it in their honey stomach. Once bees have collected a honey stomach full of nectar, they return to the hive. At this point, honeybees begin turning the nectar into honey by passing it through their mouths to the mouths of other worker bees. Each bee chews on it for half an hour before passing it on to the next. Eventually, this process evaporates the nectar and then turns it into honey. Bees consume honey and as they digest it, the honey is converted into wax through a series of glands on the bee’s abdomen. A honeybee has 8 wax-producing glands.
FYI…Bees must consume around 6-8 pounds of honey to produce 1 pound of wax!
The wax enters into the bees’ abdomens as small flakes. But to turn the flakes into beeswax, bees must move the flakes up to their mandibles, or moveable jaws, so they can chew and soften the substance. Bees use one of two methods for transferring the flakes from one place to the next:
1. Another bee removes the scales for them and does the chewing themselves. 2. Using one hind leg, they move the wax scale to the first pair of legs known as forelegs. From the forelegs, bees transfer the scales to the mandibles.
Through the process of chewing and chewing, bees mix enzymes from their salivary secretions which softens the wax flakes until it becomes formable like clay. Once the wax becomes a clay-like material, bees will combine large groupings of the wax together to create the hexagon-shaped honeycomb. Interestingly, this crowding concept also creates the necessary conditions to keep the hive at the right temperature for honeycomb’s survival.
FYI…By crowding together, bees know how to maintain the hive temperature at 95 degrees F – the perfect temperature for manipulating beeswax. Because bees are expert temperature regulators, they will use a fanning motion with their wings to cool the hive on hot days. Maintaining this temperature is also essential for keeping their Queen warm on cold days.
In summary, bees work tirelessly to produce their honeycombs. Fortunately for us, we get to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Honeycomb is an excellent source of antioxidants and carbohydrates. It also has trace amounts of nutrients. Enjoy eating it raw in the form of delicious honeycomb honey as well as a sweetener in homemade desserts. Sprinkle small pieces across a favorite salad or alongside fruit, cheese or as a centerpiece for your next charcuterie board.
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
Strawberry, Peaches and Honeycomb Salad and the recipe right here.
In 2016, a wonderful new cookbook was published by the Dallas County Master Gardener Association. The title was ‘A Year on the Plate’. One of the cookbook committees’ favorite photographs was taken late in the afternoon with long shadows stretching across the yard as sunlight drifted slowly behind the trees. The dish to be photographed was from the honey section of the book. It was a charcuterie board featuring an assortment of salty cheeses and nuts with a lovely round honeycomb serving as the main attraction. Looking through several options, we were thrilled with the dreamy look of one particular photograph that captured the essence of our star ingredient.
Since that day over seven years ago every imaginable type of charcuterie board has been created. And, as you might have guessed, each one is almost always designed around a honeycomb. Carefully cut and oozing with sweet honey, it is a magical gift of nature that comes from honeybees. During the months of July and August, we’ll take a look inside the hive to discover some of the most amazing facts about honeycomb construction and why it is considered to be the building block of the hive.
What is honeycomb? Honeycomb is a cluster of repeating hexagonal beeswax cells made by honeybees and used for raising brood and storing honey and pollen. Honeycombs store honey because honey is valuable to bees. It feeds their young and sustains the hive.
Why are honeycombs constructed using the hexagonal shape? First consider spheres, pentagons and octagons. All of these produce gaps. Bees are efficient creatures so anything with gaps isn’t the answer. As it turns out, there are only three geometrical figures with equal sides that can fit together on a flat surface without leaving gaps: equilateral triangles, squares and hexagons. So, which one is best? It’s a very old question and one that a Roman soldier/scholar/writer named Marcus Terentius Varro proposed an answer to in 36 B.C. Ever since then, Varro’s answer has been referred to as “The Honeybee Conjecture”. Simply stated, he thought that a honeycomb built of hexagons could hold more honey and, maybe, hexagons require less building wax. Why is the issue of wax important? It takes thousands and thousands of bee hours, tens of thousands of flights back and forth to the foraging source to gather nectar from countless flowers just to start the process of building a honeycomb. Is it, therefore, reasonable to assume that bees want a tight, secure structure that is as simple to build as possible?
As was eventually determined, compactness matters. The more compact your structure, the less wax needed to construct the honeycomb. Wax is a precious material. A honeybee must consume about eight ounces of honey to produce a single ounce of wax. It is an accepted fact that the hexagon shape uses the least amount of wax. Additionally, years and years of research have demonstrated that honeybees use the shape of their bodies as rulers to build each cell exactly the same. Even Charles Darwin himself once wrote, the honeycomb is a masterpiece of engineering. It is “absolutely perfect in economizing labor and wax.”
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
As humans, we live in an information age where advancing technology continues to take us to new horizons. Amazingly, for as long as honeybees have been on the planet, their highly effective way of communicating has remained the same. Survival in the world of honeybees is dependent upon good communication. Let’s look at how the concept of ‘moving in the right direction’ plays a major role in the process. An Australian zoologist named Karl van Frisch (1886-1982) measured aspects of honeybees’ dances by artificially manipulating forage sources. He described two types: the round dance and the waggle (or figure-eight) dance. Scout bees returning from foraging flights immediately attract the attention of other bees which huddle close to monitor the scout’s movements in the darkness. A short Q & A will provide a better understanding of these astonishing dances and how bees use them to share precise information with the hive. Why do bees dance? To communicate the location of food. Foraging is a highly organized operation. When a forager bee finds a particularly good source of nectar, she returns to the hive and directs others to the source. Specific instructions for the location are communicated through the patterns of the dance. How do bees learn to dance? Bees need “tutors”. In order to learn the dances correctly, they must follow other experienced dancers. The concept of social learning ultimately shapes honeybee signaling giving them the ability to use a complex form of spatial referential communication. What is learned from the dances? In a strangely mysterious way, dancing communicates the direction, distance and quality of a resource to nestmates by encoding celestial cues, retinal optic flow and relative food value into motion and sound within the nest. If you thought it was just a colony of bees buzzing around in the hive, it is scientific fact that these curious movements (bee language) are used to manage the work of the hive. “Busy as a bee” is truly something to be admired. How is the waggle dance explained? Outgoing forager bees gather in a specific part of the hive to watch returning foragers perform the dance. The dancer walks across the comb in the pattern of a figure eight, waggling her abdomen back and forth as she moves through the straight portion of the pattern. The direction she faces while waggling charts an angle in relation to the sun. Other foragers use this information to help navigate their way to the source. The more she waggles, the better the foraging in this area. Also, the longer the dance, the farther the distance from the hive.
What determines how much the scouter bee moves her abdomen? The fervor with which she vibrates her abdomen during the dance, the greater the richness of the forage source.
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
Saturday, May 20th bee lovers from all over the globe will gather in Rome, Italy to celebrate bees and their importance. It also serves as a chance to raise awareness of the ongoing increasing threat against them from human activity.
The theme this year is “Bee engaged in pollinator-friendly agricultural production”. One of the featured speakers during the Friday, May 19th pre-event is well-known Texas professional beekeeper, Erika Thompson of Texas Beeworks. She will be speaking on behalf of bees and beekeepers at the United Nations in Rome. The title of her presentation is Saving Bees and Pollinators.
For more information and to register for the webcast, google World Bee Day 2023.
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
To celebrate World Bee Day, we will post another monthly bee article tomorrow.
Bees require both nectar and pollen sources for survival. Each source has a specific purpose, nectar for energy and pollen for protein. Let’s do our part by offering them blooming plants throughout the seasons and help to avoid a feast or famine situation for the bees. Included in this post is a partial listing of nectar and pollen sources along with photos of seasonal plants loved by honeybees. Be proactive and intentionally plant flowers that bloom at different times of the year.
Poppy feastBee borrowing from BorageRue Bee buried in a Blackberry blossomClose up on Coreopsis Bees like Okra blossoms
Annuals
*Alyssum
*Basil (especially African Blue and Cinnamon)
*Cockscomb
*Fuchsia
*Larkspur
*Love-in-a-Mist
*Mexican Sunflower
*Moss Rose
*Snapdragon
*Stock
*Sweet Pea
*Zinnia
Perennials
*Anise Hyssop
*Fall Aster
*Borage
*Clovers
*Columbine
*Chrysanthemums
*Scented Geranium
*Lambs Ear
*Lavender
*Mallows
*Scabiosa
*Shrimp Plant
*Statice
Vines
*Black-eyed Susan Vine
*Cantaloupe
*Clematis
*Cucumber
*Gourds
*Honeysuckle
*Jasmine
*Morning Glory
*Passionflower
*Pumpkin
*Squash
Shrubs
*Azalea
*Barberry
*American Beautyberry
*Boxwood
*Butterfly Bush
*Cherry Laurel
*Cotoneaster
*Crepe Myrtle
*Fire Thorn
*Flowering Quince
*Hydrangea
*Spirea
*Viburnum
*Weigela
*Wisteria
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
Pictures by Starla Willis, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2009
Who can resist a heavenly chocolate experience on Valentine’s Day? Sweeten it up with Honey! Recipe below.
Understanding the Anatomy of a Honeybee
On October 19, 1909, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology received a manuscript from Mr. R. E. Snodgrass, an agent and expert of the Bureau. It was entitled “The Anatomy of the Honeybee.” This exhaustive 150-page document was described as “embodying the results of detailed studies made by Mr. Snodgrass and should prove of value as bringing to the beekeeper reliable information concerning an insect of such great importance, and also as furnishing a sound basis in devising new and improved practical manipulations.” The brilliant work of Mr. Snodgrass is considered a valuable piece of work which has now been quoted and used continuously for over 100 years.
In 1956, the work of Robert Snodgrass was published into book form. With over 350 pages, it is a classic work that is acclaimed as much for the author’s remarkably detailed line drawings of the various body parts and organs of his subject as his authoritative knowledge of entomology. Over the years, it was suggested that his book should be in the library of every student of the honeybee and bee behavior.
For the sake of brevity, and in the words of Mr. Snodgrass, here is a summary of the primary functions of the honeybee:
“It possesses mouth organs for taking up raw food, an alimentary canal to digest it, salivary glands to furnish a digestive liquid, a contractile heart to keep the blood in circulation, a respiratory system to furnish fresh oxygen and carry off waste gases, excretory organs for eliminating waste substances from the blood, a nervous system to regulate and control all the other parts, and, finally, organs to produce the reproductive elements from which new individuals are formed to take the places of those that die.”
And, just to think, this is the masterfully created tiny machine that gives us honey!
Now, let’s take a closer look at how this happens.
“Drops of Honey” …FebruaryFeature
What is honey and how is it made?
Scientifically speaking, honey is a complex carbohydrate composed of approximately 80 percent monosaccharides, or simple sugars, mostly fructose (levulose) and glucose (dextrose) in varying ratios depending on the nectar source. The remaining content, approximately 16-18 percent, is water. Fructose is slightly sweeter than glucose and, when it occurs in larger quantities than the glucose, can lead to rapid crystallization of the honey,
Over twenty-five other disaccharides have been identified in honey along with oligosaccharides, including erlose, theanderose and panos. These are not naturally present in nectar but are formed during the honey ripening process.
One of the most important attributes of any honey is its water content. The average water content of most good-quality honeys is 17-18 percent. This happens because bees make it that way.
Yeast is also present in all honeys as a result of being in the environment in general. Proteins make up about twenty-five percent of honey composition with at least 19 different ones present. The proteins are mainly enzymes added by the bees during the ripening process. Invertase, the most significant enzyme is what sets honey apart from other sweeteners.
Honey contains a few amino acids. The most important, of which, is proline. Some proline is derived from the plant source, and some added by the bees. Proline is the measure of honeys ripeness and is an important standard for judging quality and flavor profile.
Gluconic acid is the most prominent acid found in honey. It adds flavor enhancing properties.
Honey contains a wide variety of minerals including potassium and trace elements. Worth noting, darker honeys are stronger in flavor due to their higher mineral content. Important also, is that these elements make it possible to identify different types of varietal honey.
Finally, honey also contains over six hundred volatile organic compounds (VOC) or plant-based essential oils. Many originate from the plant and some are added by the bee.
*Volatile organic compounds evaporate from honey when the honey is heated, therefore, heating honey compromises its delicate flavors.
In summary, let’s close with a few simple answers to the question, ‘what is honey’.
*Honey is the essence of flowers.
*Honey is a thick, golden liquid produced by industrious bees.
*Honey is the result of a colony of bees working together to collect flower nectar and transform it into a high-energy source for the hive.
*Honey is an organic, natural sugar alternative with no additives.
The A, Bee Cs of Honey Making
Honey production is a carefully orchestrated series of chemical processes including digestion, regurgitation, enzyme activity and evaporation. It is exclusively the creation of the female worker bees. Nectar, a sugary liquid, is extracted from flowers using a bee’s long tube-like tongue called a proboscis then stored in its stomach or “crop”. While sloshing around in the crop, the nectar mixes with the enzyme invertase which begins the transformation of its chemical composition and pH, making it more suitable for long-term storage.
When a honeybee returns to the hive, it passes the nectar to another bee by regurgitating the liquid into the other bee’s mouth. This regurgitation process is repeated until the partially digested nectar is finally deposited into a honeycomb.
Once in the comb, nectar is still a viscous liquid – nothing like the honey you use at home. To get all that extra water out of their honey, bees set to work fanning the honeycomb with their wings to speed up the process of evaporation.
When most of the water has evaporated from the honeycomb, the bee seals the comb with a secretion of liquid from its abdomen, which eventually hardens into beeswax. Away from air and water, honey can be stored indefinitely, providing bees with the perfect food source for cold winter months.
Linda Alexander, Dallas County Master Gardener Class of 2008
Feature
DALLAS GARDEN BUZZ 