charlievictorbravo
Drone Bee
- Joined
- Jul 31, 2012
- Messages
- 1,802
- Reaction score
- 77
- Location
- Torpoint, Cornwall
- Hive Type
- 14x12
- Number of Hives
- 2 - 14x12
This is a really interesting article that puts forward an hypothesis for how honey is made and used by the bees.
That last sentence is not strictly accurate because, according to this hypothesis, "Honey is not produced by bees. Honey is processed by the microbiota in the sealed honey cells" The theory is that the nearly 40% water and 55% Sucrose is converted into Glucose, Fructose and Maltose but having only 17.1% water by the microbiota IN THE SEALED CELLS. That's a bit different to what I was taught - i.e. weak honey made in the bees and concentrated to 18% moisture content by the bees flapping their wings.
If the hypothesis is correct, it does rather beg the questions "How long does this process in the sealed cells take?" and "Does it continue after under-processed nectar is spun out and the 'honey' is placed in jars?" The article says that "Honey from the late summer flow takes approximately 3 months to mature" so, presumably, if you harvest it before the three months is up, the microbiota have not finished their work on it.
The author of the article is Jonah Chitolie who works at the Natural History Museum and is a member of the Surrey BKA, Weybridge Division. He does not say whether his hypothesis has been peer reviewed and published in a technical journal but, as it stands, it does rather turn a lot of the accepted honey production process on its head.
CVB
That last sentence is not strictly accurate because, according to this hypothesis, "Honey is not produced by bees. Honey is processed by the microbiota in the sealed honey cells" The theory is that the nearly 40% water and 55% Sucrose is converted into Glucose, Fructose and Maltose but having only 17.1% water by the microbiota IN THE SEALED CELLS. That's a bit different to what I was taught - i.e. weak honey made in the bees and concentrated to 18% moisture content by the bees flapping their wings.
If the hypothesis is correct, it does rather beg the questions "How long does this process in the sealed cells take?" and "Does it continue after under-processed nectar is spun out and the 'honey' is placed in jars?" The article says that "Honey from the late summer flow takes approximately 3 months to mature" so, presumably, if you harvest it before the three months is up, the microbiota have not finished their work on it.
The author of the article is Jonah Chitolie who works at the Natural History Museum and is a member of the Surrey BKA, Weybridge Division. He does not say whether his hypothesis has been peer reviewed and published in a technical journal but, as it stands, it does rather turn a lot of the accepted honey production process on its head.
CVB
