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In her whole life, one worker bee makes

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about one twelfth of a teaspoon
of honey, and it starts here.

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Whether flowers make nectar at all depends

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on the weather, so one bad spring
can mean no honey that year.

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On each trip a forager visits dozens of

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flowers and carries the nectar
home in a dedicated honey stomach.

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Across roughly two million flowers, a

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colony flies about twice around the
world to make just one pound of honey.

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In the hive it is stored in hexagons, a

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shape that holds the most
honey for the least wax.

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Wings fan off the water until barely a

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fifth is left, and what began
as nectar is finally honey.

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Spinning flings the honey out and leaves

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the comb whole, so the bees
can fill the same wax again.

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What leaves the extractor is honey still

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carrying flecks of wax, and the
next job is to remove only that.

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Honey is strained slowly because too much

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heat spoils its flavour and the
enzymes the bees added to it.

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None of it is dramatic, and all of it is

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happening again right now,
in hives on six continents.

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Bees make honey to survive the winter, so

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the spoonful on your toast began
as the colony's own winter food.

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So a teaspoon on toast is twelve bee

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lifetimes of work, and every
bead of it began like this one.