There are more than 20,000 species of bees in the world yet many of us only know of the famous honey bee. Honey bees are just one of the seven families of bees under the family name Apidae.
The honey bee family, Apis, is divided into three groups: the cavity nesting honey bees, the dwarf honey bees and the giant honey bees. However, the bumblebee which is not a member of the Apis also produces honey but its too little for humans to harvest. The East African honey bee, Asian and European honey bee fall under the cavity nesting bees and are raised in boxes producing much of the honey we consume today.
How honey is made
Bees make honey from nectar. They use their specialized tongues to suck up nectar into one of their two stomachs. A single honey bee can visit up to 100 flowers in a single trip. Once its full of nectar the bee can weigh twice its body weight. The bee’s stomach secretes digestive enzymes to help convert the nectar into simple sugars. But digestive enzymes from one bee are not enough to make high quality honey so the bees regurgitate the digested nectar into another bee’s mouth for more digestive action. Once it has been digested enough the bees pack it away in hexagon-shaped beeswax honey cells. They then turn the nectar into honey by drying it out using a warm breeze made with their wings. Once the honey has dried out, they put a lid over the honey cell using fresh beeswax – kind of like a little honey jar.
Because of its low PH and water content bacteria can barely survive in honey making its shelf life long. In fact, if honey is stored in an airtight container, it will have an infinity shelf life.
Not all honey is the same
Because bees are found in different climatic regions where certain flowers are found the honey will taste a bit different depending on the flowers the bees consume nectar from. According to the National Honey Board, there are over 300 different varieties of honey produces worldwide with the most common being
Clover honey
Clover honey the most popular type of honey harvested and consumed across North America. Yep, wherever you find clovers growing (i.e., every patch of grass in the spring and summer).This type of honey has strong antioxidant properties, as well as health-boosting flavanols and phenolic acids that are believed to support the heart, lungs and nervous system.
Wildflower honey
As the name suggests, wildflowers are the source of this type of honey. Wildflower honey is typically on the lighter side, with a rich and often fruity flavor. Wildflower honey, like all types of honey, is loaded with antioxidants and some say it can reduce seasonal allergies, too (although the science behind this claim is mixed).
Dandelion honey
Dandelion honey is relatively hard to come by—but if you get your hands on it, you’re in for a treat.
Orange blossom honey
Orange blossom honey is a light honey that’s particularly popular in Spain and Mexico where it originated.
Linden honey
The blossoms of the linden tree are known for their sweet and verdant fragrance; they’re also the source of linden honey—a popular type of honey harvested throughout Europe.
Acacia honey
The name here is rather deceiving, given that acacia honey comes not from the acacia tree, but rather the black locust tree, which is native to North America and Europe.
Other types include:
Manuka honey
Tupelo honey
Buckwheat honey
Sage honey
Eucalyptus honey
Sourwood honey
Mad honey
In the mountains of Nepal bees produce on of the most unusual types of honey. People have termed it as Mad honey. Compared to other types of honey mad honey is more bitter and reddish.
What really distinguishes it though are its physiological effects. In low doses it causes dizziness, light headedness and Euphoria. In higher doses it may cause vomitting, seizure or even death. The rhododendron flowers the bees consume are what makes this type of honey drug like.
Mad honey has even been used by King Mithridates of the Persian army as a biological weapon to kill the roman soldiers. As the romans were pursuing them through the mountains the Persians left pots of honey behind for the Romans to consume, which they did. This made them disoriented and all the Persian army did was to return and kill the over 1000 roman soldiers with few losses of their own.
Fast forward to today mad honey is consumed in low doses ( a teaspoon) mostly in Nepal and Turkey. But accessing honeycombs that contain mad honey can be difficult. One reason is that rhododendrons grow best in higher altitudes, and bees often build their hives on cliffs near the plants, meaning harvesters have to climb mountainsides to harvest the honey.
let's conclude with some fun facts
The honey bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.
A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour, hence it would have to fly around 90,000 miles -three times around the globe – to make one pound of honey.
It takes one ounce (28 grams) of honey to fuel a bee’s flight around the world.
Honey is 80% sugars and 20% water.
Honey bees produce beeswax from eight paired glands on the underside of their abdomen.
Honey bees must consume about 17-20 pounds ( 7 to 9 kg )of honey to be able to biochemically produce each pound of beeswax.
A populous colony may contain 40,000 to 60,000 bees during the late spring or early summer.
The queen bee lives for about 2-3 years.
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