甜甜的蜂蜜大家都爱喝。蜂蜜不仅可以给人体补充多种营养成分，还有排毒养颜的功效。蜂蜜有这么多的好处,那它究竟是怎么酿出来的呢？看了下面这篇文章，你就能对蜜蜂的工作了解一二了。

A honeybee starts the honey making process by visiting a flower and gathering some nectar. Many plants use nectar as a way of encouraging insects (bees, wasps, butterflies, etc.) to stop at their flowers. In the process of gathering nectar, the insect transfers pollen grains from one flower to another and pollinates the plants.

Most flowers' nectars are similar to the water mixed with sucrose. Nectars can contain other beneficial substances as well.

Enzymes that bees produce turn the sucrose into glucose and fructose. An enzyme, invertase, converts most of the sucrose into two kinds of six-carbon sugars, glucose and fructose. A small amount of the glucose is attacked by a second enzyme and converted into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The gluconic acid makes honey an acid medium with a low ph that is inhospitable to bacteria, molds, and fungi while the hydrogen peroxide gives short-range protection against these same organisms when the honey is ripening or is diluted for larval food. Honey bees also reduce the moisture content of nectar, which gives it a high osmotic pressure and protection against microbes.

Most of the moisture has to be evaporated, leaving only about 18-percent water in the honey. The physical change involves the removal of water, which is accomplished by bees externally manipulating nectar in their mouths and then placing small droplets on the upper side of cells and fanning their wings to increase air movement and carry away excess moisture.

Thus honey is made to be a very stable food. It naturally resists molds, fungi and other bacteria, allowing it to last for years without refrigeration!

nectar:花蜜

pollen:花粉

sucrose:蔗糖

enzymes:酶

glucose:葡萄糖

fructose:果糖

gluconic acid:葡萄糖酸

hydrogen peroxide:过氧化氢

fungus:真菌

larval:幼虫的

osmotic pressure:渗透压强

microbe:微生物

evaporate:蒸发

(英语点津Annabel编辑)