this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2024
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Science Memes

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Honey (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[โ€“] [email protected] 18 points 3 months ago (1 children)

A big part of it is things that happen to the nectar while inside of the bees. That being said, synthetic honey does exist. They use specific types of bacteria to simulate what the bees introduce to it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

To expand on this... Part of what happens to the nectar inside the bee's honey crop is the addition of various enzymes (IIRC invertase is one. I don't recall any of the others) that modify the sugars and other compounds in the nectar.

So nectar goes in, the result of nectar + enzymes comes out, then it's dried until the moisture content is low enough (~18% is what I was told as a beekeeper. Who knows how the bees measure it...)