How is Honey Made by the Bee? Spoiler Alert: It isn't Vomit...

At the Carter Center on Saturday at the Butterfly Trail Discovery Day, I had to field questions over and over about how the bees produce honey. People wanted to know if the bee vomited the nectar from a stomach.

I had to explain that although I do have a friend in West Palm who calls his apiary Bee Barf Apiary, in fact, the honey bee has an entirely separate honey pouch or stomach in which she carries her nectar. Her digestive organs are different from the place where the nectar goes. I felt clumsy in my explanation.

I have just read this article, however, which is the clearest explanation I have ever read of how the nectar is carried by the bee, how the nectar turns into honey, and how the digestive tract is separate from the honey processing part of the bee. You can read the article here.