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Honeybee - our best insect friend
Honeybees are essentially
social insects belonging to the Hymenoptera species. They are flower pollinators
and live in beehives, that are made of wax cells.
Three
classes of honeybees
-
Workers: undeveloped
females with stings, seen only in early summer.
-
Queens: larger in size
than workers.
-
Drones or males: larger
than the workers but without sting.
Both queens and workers lay
eggs.
Food of honeybee
The food of honeybee is naturally
honey which is the nectar extracted from pollen grains of flowers. Bees
adapt their body structure in a way suitable for extraction of honey. They
produce honey by gathering nectar from the follower blossoms containing
more than 15 percent sugar content. The nectar is stored in a sac, to which digestive enzymes such as invertase are added, and the sucrose in the nectar gets converted to glucose and fructose. When the bee returns to the hive, it regurgitates the nectar and transfers it to another worker, who takes it to the honeycomb and evaporates it by fanning her wings. What is left, is honey! Once the honey is aged, the comb is sealed by wax to prevent spoiling.
What is honey?
Honey is a light yellowish
brown colour liquid, sweet in taste containing glucose. It is rich in proteins,
carbohydrates, minerals like calcium, phosphorous and iron, along with
Vitamin B and C.
Interesting facts
about honey
-
Honey contains about 18 percent
water and is therefore soluble in water.
-
A honeybee makes 154 trips for
one teaspoon of honey.
-
To gather a pound of honey,
a bee flies a distance which is more than three times around the world.
It takes two million flowers to make one pound of honey.
-
The flowers from which the nectar
is gathered determine the flavour and colour.
-
A bee colony produces 60 to
100 pounds of honey a year.
Uses of honey
in our everyday life
-
It is used in baking cakes,
pastries etc.
-
Used in candies and preparing
fruit creams.
-
Mixed in breakfast cereals.
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It is mixed with wine and many
fermented drinks and beverages.
-
It is used to preserve fruits.
-
Sweets are prepared with honey.
-
Used as a face pack to give
an added glow to human skin.
-
It has been used in the treatment
of burns and cuts as it has mild antiseptic properties.
-
A teaspoonful of honey if mixed
with few drops of lemon and extract of ginger helps in curing cough and
cold.
-
Use honey for an ice cream or
any biscuit topping.
-
Try using honey instead of granulated
sugar.
-
A teaspoon of honey if mixed
in a glass of lukewarm water and lemon juice cures constipation (to be
taken on empty stomach).
-
Honey helps in keeping the teeth
and gums clean. It also gives shine to the teeth if applied daily.
-
One or two teaspoons of honey,
if mixed with a cup of warm milk, and taken before going to bed,
ensures a sound sleep.
Not only honey, but bee
wax is also very useful. It is used for making candles, cosmetics, furniture
and artificial flowers and fruits.
Considering the medicinal
and nutritional qualities of honey, we can say that honeybees are the most
beautiful gifts of Nature to mankind.
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