Where does honey come from and what are its properties

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Have you ever wondered where honey comes from? This sweet product is loved by many people, but not everyone knows exactly how it appears - perhaps only beekeepers, both professionals and amateurs, are aware of this process. Others perceive honey as something that arises by itself, but in fact, the formation of this product is a complex process. In this article, we will talk about where lime honey comes from, what are its beneficial properties, and what are the contraindications for its use.

What happens honey

Of course, bees do it. Find out where honey comes from bees.

The scout bees fly out of their hives and go in search of flowers. Depending on the region and season, they may be interested in different plants, such as buckwheat, which produces honey with a sharp taste and a dark hue, or linden, which produces light amber honey, the most popular in Russia.

Besides, thisthere may be other flowers - sweet clover, acacia, sunflower, oregano. All of them have a pronounced aroma, so the result is a very fragrant honey of different taste gradations. Usually one taste note prevails, but depending on the weather, the situation may develop in different ways. So, if the summer was very dry or, conversely, rainy, honey may not turn out very tasty, but this, of course, is not the fault of the bees. In such lean years, there is a high risk of buying low-quality honey diluted with sugar, both in the process of creation (bees can be fed with it) and as a result of adding it to the finished product.

Production process

Let's get back to the question of where honey comes from. Upon returning, the bees transmit all the necessary information to the rest of the hive inhabitants through peculiar movements, from the side similar to some kind of ritual dance. After that, field bees go to extract nectar from the desired flowers. Insects sit on them and collect the maximum possible amount of fluid in a ventricle specially designed for this. After that, the bees return to the hives, and their partners, worker bees, take nectar from their stomachs and mouths and chew on the extracted liquid for hours. In order to process one serving of nectar, they will need at least thirty minutes, during which complex carbohydrates will be broken down into simpler ones. However, this is not honey yet - the resulting viscous liquid must be placed in pre-prepared honeycombs and dried, and then sealed with wax. Wax is secreted from bees in specialglands.

Why do bees need honey?

Thus, we found out how honey appears, but what is it for? If you do not pump it out of the combs, as is usually the case with home hives at the end of summer, then the bees will use the resulting product for their needs. Under natural conditions, insects would sooner or later eat it, most likely in winter. In addition, bees can lay their eggs in the formed honeycomb, and then the honey will become food for the larvae that hatch from the eggs.

How do beekeepers work?

Man has been using honey since ancient times, and if earlier beekeepers hunted for honey, risking their lives, getting sweet liquid from wild bees, now beekeepers and beekeepers are doing it. They know very well where honey comes from and how to extract it from honeycombs.

Professional beekeepers are trying to rebuild life in the hive so that the bees produce more honey than is necessary for their survival. This is done in order not to disturb the natural course of events and not to feed the insects with sugar in winter - this is considered wrong among beekeepers.

Methods of extracting honey

So we figured out where honey comes from, and now we'll tell you how to get it. You can take honey with or without combs. Why are honeycombs needed? Some beekeepers claim that this is the only possible way to taste the real sweet product, and many people just like the taste of wax,soaked in honey - it's really sweet and he althy. However, this method of extraction is more suitable in cases where they do not plan to deal with the hive next summer - after all, the bees will have to sculpt the combs again, and only then they will be pumping honey into them. If the combs are not taken away, the bees can immediately begin to produce sweet honey at the onset of the flowering season. In addition, the process of taking liquid without extracting combs from the hive is not particularly complicated by technology.

And most beekeepers prefer the second method of extracting honey, without damaging the honeycombs - it allows you to use the hives for many years, because the insects do not have to spend a lot of energy on constantly recreating storage.

Honey: properties and contraindications

Traditional medicine widely uses the beneficial properties of honey. Most often it is used for colds - a cup of very warm milk with honey and butter at night has been known to many since childhood as a good way to "sweat" and eliminate coughing. It enhances immunity, has anti-viral and antibacterial effects, which is why it is recommended as an adjuvant during various infections. This sweet liquid contains a lot of potassium, which has the ability to kill bacteria.

Also, honey is used in cosmetology, in particular - in the form of a variety of masks. For example, a honey mask with almond oil improves skin tone and tones it. Many cosmetic companies use honey in masks, serums, scrubs and lip balms.

In addition, there arehoney diets. Contrary to expectations, honey helps to lose weight, although it is very sweet and, it would seem, the maximum that it can do is to help get fat. However, it breaks down fats.

Also, honey is advised to be used in diseases of the nervous system as a tonic and sedative.

Possible allergy

Of course, this product has many useful properties for the human body, but there is also a contraindication to its use - an allergy. Unfortunately, such a reaction to honey is far from uncommon, so bee products should be given to children with caution. In addition, diabetics should be wary of the golden sweetness and discuss the benefits of honey for your body with your doctor.

Fakes

Unfortunately, a person who is ignorant of the intricacies of honey production can easily run into a low-quality product when making a purchase. How can you tell a quality product from a fake?

Let's exclude the situation when you live in the private sector - it is much easier to navigate the choice there, because you can always ask the locals which beekeeper sells the best quality goods.

To understand whether this product is natural, you can taste it - real honey without additives will be slightly bitter. If the liquid is too cloying, it most likely means that the careless beekeeper added too much sugar.

You can also focus on the consistency, however, this way you can only determine whether it is worth buying honey from the same seller next summer - because the consistency of the product changes only by winter. Then heshould begin to sugar and thicken, otherwise, again, there is a lot of sugar in the composition. During direct purchase it is difficult to understand whether honey is good - a fresh young product is usually very liquid.

Besides, if you trust your instincts, you can smell honey. The thicker and tastier it smells, the more likely it is real.

Thus, we talked about how honey appears. We discussed what its useful properties are and how to distinguish a fake product from a natural one. However, ignorance of where honey comes from, most often does not prevent a person from using it as a dessert or medicine.