24 Honey is bee barf, but not as we know it
You may have heard that the sweet breakfast condiment is the result of a bee with a bad stomach, vomiting its guts and storing the sugary expulsion. However, it’s not barf as we know it. Rather than entering the bee’s stomach, called the ventriculus, bees are equipped with an internal sac known as a crop or honey stomach for storage. Upon returning to the hive, these filled honey sacs are emptied into the mouths of processor bees, who will fill honeycombs for storage. In the process of transferring nectar from one bee to another, the enzymes in the crop alter the ph and composition of the nectar to prevent it from spoiling. The bees then use their wings to fan the honey to reduce the amount of water. Once this stage is complete the bees then secrete a liquid which will harden and form the beeswax seal to trap the honey inside the honeycomb.