Honey in Pastry, Honey Fraud, and the Fascinating World of Bees

In recent days, a didactic event was held in Abano Terme (PD) regarding the importance of bees for agricultural sustainability and the fruits of their precious work.

For us, who live in Veneto, it was an interesting opportunity to understand and delve deeper into this fascinating world of bees.

First of all, however, we would like to bring back to light a news item from a couple of months ago regarding an operation by the Guardia di Finanza of Vicenza, in collaboration with the Central Inspectorate for the Protection of Quality and Fraud Repression of agri-food products (ICQRF), which led to the seizure of over 22,000 kilos of adulterated or counterfeit honey coming from various European and non-European countries, including Romania, Hungary, Turkey, China, and Vietnam.

74 barrels of honey, each weighing 300 kilos, were seized!

The news was reported by some local newspapers but can also be read on Coldiretti's website at the following page: https://www.coldiretti.it/consumi/made-in-italy-bene-sequestro-miele-straniero-nel-2024-invasione-di-prodotto-estero-16

This news pairs with another one we recall from a long time ago: it was 2005 when royal jelly and Chinese honey contaminated with chloramphenicol were found in Germany and Italy (see: https://unaapi.it/notizie-apicoltura/pappa-reale-e-miele-cinese-al-cloranfenicolo-3183/)

There are 75,000 Italian beekeepers, and Coldiretti, in addition to raising the alarm about food fraud, emphasizes the importance of carefully reading labels and preferring direct purchases from local producers. We recall that a new European Directive called “Breakfast” (no. 1438/2024/EU) has indeed introduced the obligation to clearly and visibly indicate the country of origin on the label. This directive does not only concern honey but also fruit juices, jams, and powdered milk (see the following page: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/it/press/press-releases/2024/04/29/council-adopts-revised-breakfast-directives-to-strengthen-marketing-standards-and-improve-consumer-information/).

However, it is simplistic to believe that the indication of the country of origin alone can prevent fraud related to honey. The recent seizure indeed demonstrates that unscrupulous importers exist, willing to market adulterated honey. Unfortunately, nothing prevents this product from subsequently being resold as “made in Italy,” falsifying the origin and thus deceiving the consumer.

In Italy, per capita consumption is about 500 grams per year, lower than the European average, but the country stands out for its rich biodiversity, with over 60 varieties of honey, including PDO productions and flavored specialties.

Now let's talk a bit about bees and their incessant work.

Bees: small but fundamental

Bees are social insects that live in organized colonies. Each colony has:

• A queen, who lays the eggs.
• The workers, who do practically everything: feed the larvae, clean the hive, collect nectar and pollen…
• The drones, the males, whose only purpose is to mate with the queen.

But the real magic of bees is their role as pollinators: thanks to their flight from flower to flower, they enable many plants to reproduce. Why is this so important?

• About 75% of food crops (apples, almonds, zucchinis, strawberries, cherries, etc.) depend on pollinators like bees.
• Pollination increases the quantity, quality, and variety of crops.
• Without bees, many foods would be rarer, more expensive, or even absent from our tables.

And it's not just about food for us: many wild and spontaneous plants (which maintain ecosystems) depend on pollination to continue existing.

What happens if bees disappear?

Scientists talk about a “pollinator collapse” as one of the most serious risks to global food security. If bees disappeared:

• Agricultural yields would plummet.
• Diets would become poorer (less fruit and vegetables).
• Ecosystems would lose biodiversity.

What is pollination?

It is the transfer of pollen (which contains the male reproductive cells) from the anthers (male part of the flower) to the pistil (female part). When this happens successfully, the plant can produce fruits and seeds.

The role of bees in pollination

Bees visit flowers to collect nectar (to be transformed into honey) and pollen (a protein source for the larvae). As they move from one flower to another:

• Their hairy bodies become covered with pollen grains.
• Inadvertently, when they visit another flower, they deposit some of the pollen, facilitating pollination.

Therefore, bees are exceptional natural pollinators because:

• They visit many flowers every day.
• They move methodically and precisely.
• They have floral fidelity: they tend to visit the same species of plant as long as it's available, improving the effectiveness of pollination.

Beyond pollination, bees provide us with:

1. Honey
2. Beeswax
3. Propolis

Honey: nature’s liquid gold

Honey is used for its sweetening power as a substitute for sucrose (sugar) or other polysaccharides.

Thanks to the presence of fructose and glucose, honey has a higher sweetening power than sugar and a lower caloric value, since it contains about 20% water. Another important difference is the presence in honey of vitamins, flavonoids, and mineral salts.

Moreover, honey has a richer and more aromatic flavor than sugar, with floral, fruity, balsamic notes… depending on the flower variety (acacia, chestnut, citrus, wildflower, etc.) from which bees collect the nectar.

In pastry making, honey is used in many specialties that are characterized precisely by its presence. For example: Struffoli (Campania), Cartellate (Puglia), Cavallucci and Ricciarelli (Tuscany), Mostaccioli (various regions), Torrone (Lombardy, Veneto), Zelten (Trentino-Alto Adige).

Honey is the result of the tireless work of bees. Here’s how they produce it:

• Nectar collection: bees suck it from flowers and store it in a “honey stomach” called the crop.
• Enzymatic transformation: once back in the hive, they regurgitate the nectar and pass it from one bee to another, enriching it with enzymes.
• Water evaporation: the nectar is deposited in the cells of the hive and ventilated by the bees until the water content is sufficiently reduced.
• Wax sealing: once the honey is ready, bees seal the cells with a wax cap.

Each individual bee produces only about half a teaspoon to one teaspoon of honey in its entire lifetime.

Honey production is teamwork, and bees communicate with each other by dancing—a sort of “waggle dance” that tells their sisters where to find food!

It’s estimated that to produce 1 kg of honey, bees collectively travel a staggering 540,000 km!

But all this work is now threatened by pesticides, habitat loss, climate change, and parasites.

What is beeswax?

Most people know beeswax as a raw material for candle making! But it has many uses: in cosmetics (creams, lip balms, ointments) due to its emollient, protective and moisturizing properties; in food (as natural coating, e.g., for cheese or to make reusable wax wraps); in medicines and natural remedies thanks to its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effects.

Beeswax is a substance secreted by young worker bees, especially between the 12th and 18th day of life. Bees produce it from special wax glands located on their abdomen.

• The wax comes out in small transparent flakes, which are then chewed and shaped by the bees to build the honeycomb.
• Fresh wax is nearly white, but it becomes more yellow or amber depending on its contact with pollen, propolis, and honey.

Beeswax is essential for:

• Building the comb: a set of perfect hexagonal cells used to rear larvae (from egg to larva to pupa to adult bee) and store honey and pollen. These hexagonal cells are a marvel of nature: the most efficient shape to maximize space and store substances with minimal material use.
• Sealing ripe honey: each cell is capped with a thin wax lid, protecting the honey from moisture and air.
• Insulating and protecting: beeswax acts as a thermal insulator, helping to maintain the ideal hive temperature (around 34–35°C).

It is estimated that producing 1 kg of wax requires 8–10 kg of honey! It is truly a precious product.

Some fun facts about the honeycomb!

Let’s not confuse the honeycomb with the hive, which is the bees’ full home—the entire structure that contains the honeycomb (which is the internal part of the hive).

The hive can be natural, such as a hollow in a tree or a wall where bees build their combs, or artificial, like the ones used by beekeepers, often made of wood and equipped with movable frames where bees construct their honeycombs.

The honeycomb is a structure made of hexagonal wax cells built by bees for the purpose— as we’ve already said—of laying eggs, raising larvae, and storing honey and pollen.

• A single comb can contain thousands of perfectly aligned cells.
• 1 gram of wax can produce over 800 cells!
• It is made of two layers of hexagonal cells, placed back to back (mirrored), with a thin sheet of wax in the middle.
• Each cell is a perfectly regular hexagon, slightly tilted upward to prevent contents from spilling. This shape allows for complete space efficiency and excellent mechanical strength.
• The walls between cells are very thin (about 0.07 mm), yet the overall structure is extremely strong.
• It’s young worker bees, guided by instinct and chemical signals, who build the comb in harmony: first producing wax, then chewing and softening the flakes, shaping the cells with precise movements of mandibles and legs, and finally constructing the comb from top to bottom as a group.
• Among all the cells, one stands out: the queen cell, which houses the queen bee. Its sides are not regular hexagons because it has an elongated, vertical, peanut-like shape. It visibly protrudes from the comb and is only built when a new queen must be raised (to replace the old one, if she dies, or during swarming).

Propolis

Propolis is a plant resin that bees collect from buds and bark of trees like poplars, birches, conifers, chestnuts, and elms... They enrich it with enzymes, wax, and pollen, turning it into a dense, sticky, and highly aromatic substance. Its color ranges from yellow-green to dark brown, depending on the source plant.

The name "propolis" comes from Greek: "pro" meaning "in front of" and "polis" meaning "city"—so, "in front of the city", as in "at the gates of the hive", i.e., to protect it.

Propolis is indeed used by bees to seal any cracks in the hive, making it airtight, protecting it from parasites and other intruders, and sterilizing the inner environment by creating an antimicrobial barrier. It is well known for its antibacterial properties.

For the same reason, bees also use propolis to mummify dead invaders (such as insects too large to remove), preventing infections from spreading inside the hive.

Propolis benefits for humans

We’ve already mentioned its antibiotic properties. That’s why propolis has been used since ancient times (by Egyptians, Greeks, Romans...) for its antibacterial effects. It also has:

• Antiviral properties
• Antifungal properties
• Anti-inflammatory action
• Local anesthetic effect

You can find it in many forms:

• Tincture (drops in alcohol or water)
• Throat and nasal sprays
• Lozenges and tablets
• Ointments and creams for the skin
• Mouthwashes and toothpaste
• Also in healing salves and products for treating canker sores and gingivitis

It is commonly used for:

• Colds, sore throat, cough
• Cuts, wounds, acne, herpes
• Strengthening the immune system, especially in winter

One last curiosity

May 20th is World Bee Day. The date was chosen by the United Nations General Assembly because it coincides with the birthday of Anton Janša (1734–1773, photo on the left), who in the 18th century was a pioneer of modern beekeeping techniques in his homeland, Slovenia.

Image: Propolis and Honey