Honey is made up of 18 per cent water, 80 per cent natural sugars and 2 per cent minerals, pollen, and protein. The sugar content is largely a combination of fructose and glucose and the balance of these two sugars determines whether the honey is clear or set.
Honeybees are sometimes mistaken for wasps (which also have stripped abdomens and a sting) The main visible differences are that wasps are bright yellow with yellow on their faces and on their legs. They also have longer antennae than honeybees. A wasp can sting repeatedly but a bee can only sting once.
Honey is produced all over the world. The aroma, colour and flavour are determined by the local flowers.
Spain & France produce sunflower honey, meanwhile, Australia is the home of the eucalyptus honey. Acacia honey is very common in Hungary, Romania and
Bulgaria.
A honeybee flies at the speed of 15 miles an hour and it will visit between 50 and 100 flowers during one collection trip.
The wings of a bee beat 11,440 times per minute, and this is the buzzing sound that we hear. The average bee will produce approximately one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey during its lifetime.
Honey never goes rotten, a jar of the 2000-year-old honey in an Egyptian tomb was said to taste delicious.
A colony of bees consists of one queen bee, tens of thousands of female worker bees and sometimes a few male bees or drones.
Honey has been known to be used as a mild antiseptic and historically was used to treat cuts and burns and as a dressing for wounds.
The bee has been used as an emblem by popes; Egyptian kings and by Napoleon- his flag showed a line of bees fighting.
More Bee information
We are the smartest, cleanest, and most valuable insect in the world. In the UK there are around 25 different species of bees and around the world there are 250 known species of bumble bee. Each bumble bees belongs to a family and has relatives; these are ants and wasps. Bees live in colonies and have a leader called The Queen Bee.
Bees pride ourselves on being clean and their hives are cleaner than an hospital operating theatre. There are different types of bees which do certain jobs. They all work for the Queen bee and produce honey by collecting nectar from wildflowers. They also make royal jelly, honeycomb, beeswax and propolis.
We can give a nasty sting if we are scared so please always be very careful not to touch us as this might frighten us.
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We are the smartest, cleanest, and most valuable insect in the world. In the UK there are around 25 different species of bees and around the world there are 250 known species of bumble bee. Each bumble bees belongs to a family and has relatives; these are ants and wasps. Bees live in colonies and have a leader called The Queen Bee.
Bees pride ourselves on being clean and their hives are cleaner than an hospital operating theatre. There are different types of bees which do certain jobs. They all work for the Queen bee and produce honey by collecting nectar from wildflowers. They also make royal jelly, honeycomb, beeswax and propolis.
We can give a nasty sting if we are scared so please always be very careful not to touch us as this might frighten us.
