ABSTRACT
Nectars from different plants contain various proportions of sucrose, fructose and glucose, and the total sugar content is often around 30-40%. Honeys from temperate-zone Apis mellifera, which have been most studied, contain about 80% sugar: mainly fructose and glucose but also small amounts of sucrose and some other sugars. In converting nectar into honey, worker bees in the colony evaporate excess water; also, their hypopharyngeal glands secrete the enzyme invertase which inverts most of the sucrose in nectar into fructose and glucose. Fructose is more soluble in water than glucose or sucrose, and as a result of the relative solubilities of the sugars in a solution containing all three - at temperatures in a honey bee colony - an extra total amount of sugar can be held in solution and even more water can be evaporated. The high total sugar concentration in honey is beneficial in that most yeasts cannot ferment in it. Also, together with one other constituent (glucose oxidase), it gives the honey antimicrobial properties, and it can be stored safe from spoilage (Sections 47.1 and 52.44); also, the finished honey occupies less storage space in the nest.
