Description

At the heart of honey production, the black bee is queen. Meticulous and hardworking, the foragers store the nectar or honeydew collected in their crops. When the bees are loaded, they return to the hive (10 to 100 times a day depending on the contiguity of the flowers) and regurgitate this famous sweet liquid to transfer it to a recipient bee. This is called trophallaxis. Repeated many times, this process gradually transforms the nectar into honey by modifying its structure thanks to the enzymes contained in the bees’ saliva. This “pre-digestion” is then stored in the cells of the hive.

Then comes the maturing process. The ventilating bees activate their wings to raise the temperature of the hive to 30°C. This will allow better evaporation of the water contained in the future honey, which will reverse the sugar/water ratio of the future honey. When the water content is less than 18%, the cells are then sealed. This process, millions of years old, allows food to be stored over time and thus makes the entire colony sustainable.