Honey Bees: What They Are, What They Produce and Why They Matter
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The honey bee is arguably the most important insect in the food chain. Bees are responsible for pollinating roughly 80% of flowering plants, including a large proportion of the fruit, vegetables and crops that humans depend on. Without bees, most of the plants that form the basis of our diet would fail to reproduce.
Honey bees have inhabited the earth for over 50 million years, but their global population has declined sharply since the mid-twentieth century due to habitat loss, pesticide use and disease. That context matters when thinking about the products bees produce and the importance of responsible sourcing.
What does a bee hive produce?
The bee hive is a precisely regulated environment where bees produce and store several compounds used across food, supplement and traditional medicine contexts:
- Raw honey — the concentrated nectar bees collect and process from flowers, stored in sealed honeycomb cells
- Bee pollen — the protein-rich granules collected from flowers and carried back to the hive on the bees’ legs
- Bee bread — bee pollen that has been packed into honeycomb cells, mixed with honey and saliva, and fermented
- Royal jelly — a secretion produced by worker bees to feed the queen and larvae
- Propolis — a resinous mixture bees produce from tree sap, used to seal the hive and maintain its sterile environment
- Beeswax — the structural material bees use to build honeycomb cells
Bee pollen
Bee pollen is one of the more nutritionally interesting hive products. It is collected from flowers and contains protein, carbohydrates, fats, B vitamins and a range of minerals. Because it is a whole food rather than a processed extract, its exact nutritional composition varies depending on the plant species the bees are visiting and the season.
Our organic bee pollen granules are sourced from Spain and are available loose or in capsule form. Both are Soil Association certified organic and part of our natural supplements range. For more on what bee pollen is and how to use it, our bee pollen guide covers the detail.
Raw honey
Raw honey is honey that has not been heated, filtered or processed beyond straining. Processing destroys the naturally occurring enzymes, pollen traces and other compounds present in fresh honey. Organic certification for honey is particularly strict — the hives must be located within a minimum 4-mile radius of certified organic or uncultivated land, which makes UK organic honey extremely rare. Most certified organic honey sold in the UK is imported from Europe or further afield.
