In Northeast Florida, the months of June and July mark the time of year when the abundant nectar sources ramping up in the spring—called honey flow—start to diminish.
The end of honey flow means the start of honey harvesting season, where beekeepers take honey their honeybees have created and bottle it for our use. This is the perfect time to answer some of the common questions about honeybees, honey and beekeeping.
How do honeybees make honey?
Honeybees spend the spring collecting nectar from flowers, bringing it back to the hive and storing it in the open cells of the honeycomb. The nectar is dehydrated by bees fanning the honeycomb with their wings. This helps evaporate the water in the nectar, slowly turning it into honey.
When the moisture content reaches 15% to 17%, the bees place wax over the honey, sealing it.
How many flowers does it take to make honey? It takes 500 to 600 bees visiting about 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey.
How do bees know what flowers to choose?
Research has shown bees seem to prefer purple, blue, white and yellow flowers. A recent study found an individual bee will develop a favorite color early in their life and consistently seek out that color.
Researchers also believe bees leave a chemical marker on “empty” flowers so other bees avoid them.
How many types of honey are there?
The type of honey depends on the flower from which the honeybees collect the nectar. Orange blossom honey is collected mainly from orange blossoms, and tupelo honey is collected from tupelo trees. Other distinct honey sources include gallberry and mangrove honeys.
Beekeepers take hives to be near desired flowers as they bloom. When they stop blooming, beekeepers collect their bees and extract the honey, ensuring most of the honey comes from the desired plant.
Is honey good for you?
The sugars in honey (glucose and fructose) are easily absorbed by the body. Honey also has small amounts of vitamins, minerals, amino and organic acids making it more complex than processed sugars. Honey also has antibacterial properties and has been used in wound dressings and as first aid for burns.
Two areas of caution: Folks with diabetes should not consume honey unless they have been given permission by their physician, and honey should not be fed to infants younger than 1 years old because of susceptibility to infant botulism.
How is honey removed from the honeycomb?
Honeybees build honeycomb on frames provided by the beekeeper. There are several ways to extract honey, but most beekeepers take a frame of capped honeycomb, remove the caps with specialized knives or scrapers, and place the frame in a honey extractor that spins the frame. The centrifugal force removes the honey from the honeycomb and allows it to be collected by the extractor.
The honey is then strained to remove bits of wax and other debris and poured into bottles or jars. In some cases, beekeepers will cut honeycomb into squares placing it in containers with strained honey. This is called cut comb honey.
If you remove honey, are you taking food away from honeybees? A responsible beekeeper keeps some honey in the hive. Florida’s long growing season allows plenty of time before winter to collect and store more nectar.
Where can we find out more information on honeybees and beekeeping? For a source of information and networking, visit the University of Florida Honeybee Research and Extension Lab at entnemdept.ufl.edu/honey-bee. They provide honeybee information gleaned from the latest research.