Sweet Sustainability: The Vital Role of Bees in Honey Production and Pollination

The extinction of bees would lead to a monotonous diet, a sinking economy, and the disappearance of countless animal species. Honey-producing bees, known as Apis mellifera, have been "domesticated" by humans for over 4,000 years, starting with the Egyptians. Honey is the sole human-consumable food produced by insects, with Apis mellifera being just one of the 950,000 insect species on Earth.

Bee colonies consist of various worker types, including nurturers, masons, and gatherers. Nurturers care for and feed eggs, masons construct honey-storage structures, and gatherers collect nectar from flowers. Nectar serves as a reward for bees' pollination services, and is a sweet, aromatic substance primarily composed of natural sugars. Adult worker bees, at least twenty-one days old, transport nectar to hives in their abdomens.

Beekeepers understand that not all flowers yield suitable honey, so they place hives near acacia, orange blossom, and rosemary flowers. The sweetest nectar is also the thickest, requiring a stronger tongue to extract it. Consequently, nectar from flowers visited by butterflies is less sweet than that from pollinated flowers. Research shows that bees prefer nectar with a 50-60% carbohydrate concentration, while butterflies opt for 30-40%.

Forager bees return to the hive and transfer nectar to waiting bees, who repeatedly regurgitate it, mixing it with enzymes that convert sugars into fructose and glucose. Bees also reduce nectar moisture from 70% to 20% and create a pH of around 3.9%. This process marks the initial stage of nectar-to-honey conversion. Bees deposit the mixture into honeycomb cells and begin the honey-drying process, which involves removing up to 80% of the water content using hive heat and wing-generated ventilation. Once the honey is dry, bees seal the cells with natural wax to maintain optimal storage conditions.

Approximately eight bees are needed to produce one teaspoon of honey. Honey serves as a nutrient-rich, energy-dense food source for larvae, enabling their growth into adult bees.