Lately, this blog has become quite argumentative. In reality, I don’t have the time to write such overly logical arguments. During this season, the bees are fully engaged in the production of fully matured honey, working hard to concentrate the nectar. They must quickly remove moisture from the nectar and bring the sugar content to over 80% to prevent fermentation. Yeast feeds on sugar, multiplying and causing fermentation, which means the bees cannot use fermented nectar as an energy source for winter. From each beehive, I can hear the buzzing of the bees creating a whirlwind.

The bees change the angle of their wings and vibrate themvigorously to generate heat and airflow, desperately working to dehydrate the nectar. The high-concentration nectar produced in this way is sealed with a wax called a honey cap, secreted from the thymus, to block humidity, and is stored as winter food. Therefore, it is essential to support the hives to prevent moisture from entering. In this way, we beekeepers end up taking this precious honey for ourselves.

When thinking about this, it’s clear that human actions are the worst. However, there is a bit of beekeeping philosophy involved. We always  leave behind enough honey for the bees to survive the winter. Most beekeepers, however, extract and squeeze out almost all of the honey. Since the bees would die from this, they are given sugar  water (syrup) as a substitute to survive until the following spring. Even the cells that are far from producing fully matured honey and haven’t  been capped are squeezed out. This watery honey is heated and concentrated, which causes the essential enzymes that are beneficial to  humans to lose their activity. Since enzymes are proteins, they undergo irreversible denaturation when heated. In other words, while ice can  melt back into water, a boiled egg cannot return to being a raw egg.

Heat-processed honey is no longer the same as raw honey. To use a simple analogy, the nutritional difference is as significant  as that between tuna sashimi and canned tuna. Products like these, mass-produced under the name of Manuka honey, are now sold not  only through online shopping but also in department stores and supermarkets. Compared to my products, they are truly “similar yet fundamentally different.” Moreover, taking honey meant for the bees’ winter survival (essentially stealing it) and replacing it with syrup is far from a wise practice.  Thinking of the bees’ health, this is something that should never be done. Needless to say, the health of the customers who use our products  originates from the health of the bees.