Honey comprises 18 per cent water, 80 per cent natural sugars, and 2 per cent minerals, pollen, and protein. The sugar content is 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 have stripped abdomens and a sting). The main visible difference is that wasps are bright yellow, with yellow on their faces and 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 local flowers determine the aroma, colour and flavour.
Spain & France produce sunflower honey. Meanwhile, Australia is the home of eucalyptus honey. Acacia honey is very common in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.
A honeybee flies 15 miles an hour and 0 and 100 flowers during one collection trip.
A bee’s wings beat 11,440 times per minute, the buzzing sound 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 Napoleon- his flag showed a line of bees fighting.
More Bee information
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We are the smartest, cleanest, and most valuable insects worldwide. In the UK, there are around 25 different species of bees, and around the world, there are 250 known species of bumble bees. Each bumble bee belongs to a family and has relatives: ants and wasps. Bees live in colonies and have a leader called The Queen Bee.
Bees pride themselves on being clean; their hives are cleaner than a hospital operating theatre. Different types of bees 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.
Bees can give us 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.
