Honey is a sweet, thick sugary solution made by bees. The composition of honey consists of varying proportions of fructose, glucose, water, oil and special enzymes produced by bees. (Glucose and fructose are types of suger).

The first step in making honey begins when field bees fly from flower to flower collecting the sweet juices or nectar that a flower provides. With their tongues, the field bees suck out the nectar and store it in sacs within their bodies. After filling their sacs with these sweet juices, the field bees fly back to their bee hive and regurgitate the stored nectar into the mouths of house bees.

These house bees are assigned the job of adding enzymes from their bodies to the nectar. The enzymes cause the water in the nectar to evaporate-thereby turning the nectar into honey. Lastly, the nectar is stored in a cell of a honeycomb. Overtime, the nectar ripens and becomes honey.


The buzz on honey...

Honey is one of the easiest foods to digest. Honey is used in many cough syrups because its smooth, thick texture soothes throats. As a result of honey's unique ability to readily absorb air, it is often used as a moistening agent in baking.
Honey comes in all types of colors and flavors. The color and flavor of honey depends on the how old the honey is and the kind of flower that the nectar was extracted from

What is HoneyComb made from?

A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal wax cells built by honeybees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen. The term is also used for manmade materials that resemble it in appearance or structure. In addition, Polistinae and Vespinae wasps construct hexagonal prism packed combs, which are made of paper instead of wax.

Honeycomb is essentially the furniture and pantry in the bees' home. Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey. The honey can be extracted from the comb by uncapping and spinning in a centrifugal machine - the honey extractor. Fresh, new comb is sometimes sold and used intact as comb honey, especially if the honey is being spread on bread rather than used in cooking or to sweeten tea.

Broodcomb becomes dark over time, because of the cocoons embedded in the cells and the tracking of many feet, called travel stain by beekeepers when seen on frames of comb honey. Honeycomb in the "supers" that are not allowed to be used for brood stays light colored.


What do bees eat?
A list of plants and floral sources

Early Spring
Skunk Cabbage (symplocarpus foetidus)
Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)
Crocus, Maple (Acer)
Willow (Salix)
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Elm (Ulmus)
Cornelian Cherry Dogwood (Cornus mas)
Apples
Peach
Pear
Plum
Cherry (Malus,Prunus,Pyrus)
Trout lily (Erythronium americanum)
Service berry Shadebush (Amelanchier)
Wild Mustard (Brassica rapa)
Wild Geramium (Geranium)

Late Spring
Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia)
Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
Brambles (Rubus)
Rape Seed
Canola (Brassica napus)
Blueberry
Cranberry (Vaccinium)
Russian olive (Eleganus angustifolia)
Bush, Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii)
Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina)
Strawberry (Fragarina x ananassa)

Summer
Yellow Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis)
White Sweet Clover (Melilotus officinalis subsp. albus)
American Basswood (Tilia americana)
Small Leaved Linden (Tilia cordata)
White Dutch Clover (Trifolium repens)
Alsilke Clover (Trifolium hydridum)
Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)
Holly (Ilex)
Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos)
Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)
Lima Bean (Phaseolus lunatus)
Soybean (Glycine max)
Cotoneaster, Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum)
Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina)
Hairy Vetch (Vicia villosa)
Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
Squash, Cucumber and pumpkins (Cucurbita)
Thistles, Purple Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria)
Japanese Knotweed
Japanese Bamboo (Polygonum orientale)
Corn (zea mays)

Fall
Goldenrod (Solidago)
Aster, Star Thistle (Centaurea maculosa)
Ironweed (Veronica novboracensis)
Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium)
Bonest (Eupatorium perfoliatum)
Heather (Calluna vulgaris)
Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)
Purple Coneflower (Echinacea perpurea)
Burdock (Arctium)
Figwort (Scrophularia lanceolata)
Teasel (Dipsacus)
Mint (Mentha)
Mountian Mint (Pycnanthemum)
Wingstem (Verbesina alternifolia)


Resources

MAAREC.cas.psu.edu

Honey Plants of North America
(John H. Lovell)

Native Plants of the Northeast,
A Guide for Gardening & Conservation
(Donald J. Leopold)