Posts Tagged ‘Hypopharngeal’

Honey is a natural sweeter. It has been used as a food for some six thousand years. It was the sole source of sweet for much of the world at that time .

As we people know honey is obtained from flowers and it is also called as ‘Nectar’. But the fact is the floral extract is called as nectar and its converted into honey by honey bees. The term floral extract is also not proper to define nectar, sometimes nectar is also extra floral, meaning, obtained from other parts of plant other than flower.

Bee has a complex anatomy to extract nectar from flowers. The extract is stored in a widened region called ‘Honey Stomach’ or ‘ Honey Sac’. The process of conversion of nectar to honey starts here. The nectar is altered chemically by the secretions of two glands namely salivary and hypopharngeal. The enzymes of these glands break larger sugar molecules to simpler molecules.

In the hive the bee disgorges (expels out), the nectar and its transferred to a house bee. The house bee drinks the expelled nectar through her proboscis ( specialized sucking organ for bees and other insects) and may again disgorge and redrink the same over a period of 15 – 20 minutes. This makes the nectar to mix up well with enzymic secretions. The nectar may also be passed onto another house bee for additional processing. Finally the nectar droplet is deposited into the honey comb.

The ripening of nectar into honey is a combination of two processes, the conversion of complex sugar molecules to simpler molecules and the evaporation of excess water. The evaporation of excess water is facilitated by constant fanning of wings by the honey bees. Bee hives are slightly tilted to prevent pooling of water inside the hive. The process of conversion , nectar to honey takes 1- 3 days. In this way all the cells in the comb is filled and after that cells are capped with newly produced bees wax.

Honey is less than 20% water,due to its low moisture content, honey is the only food that will not spoil. However, honey that is harvested before its completely ripe, has a higher moisture content and may be vulnerable to spoilage. Another factor that risks the quality of honey is storage, it has a nautral ability to absorb atmospheric moisture if its not kept in a well-sealed container.

Honey is acidic in nature,but the high sugar content tends to mask the acidity in taste. Honey is rich in minerals and also contains considerable amount of vitamins in it. So, if you are watching your weight honey will be smarter choice than sugar.