Like honey and propolis, other well-known honey bee products that are gathered rather than secreted (i.e., in contrast to royal jelly and beeswax), the exact chemical composition depends on the plants the worker bees gather the pollen from.
When beekeepers extract the honey, they cut off the wax caps from each honeycomb cell with an uncapping knife or machine. Its color varies from nearly white to brownish, depending on purity and the type of flowers gathered by the bees.
The composition of propolis varies from hive to hive, from district to district, and from season to season. Normally, it is dark brown in color, but can be found in green, red, black, and white hues, depending on the sources of resin in the hive...
High-quality honey can be distinguished by fragrance, taste, and consistency. Ripe, freshly collected, high-quality honey at 20 °C (68 °F) should flow from a knife in a straight stream, without breaking into separate drops. After falling down...