Bees make honey

[blufford]

Are bees the only insect that produce food (honey) for people?

[Bret]

I am in way over my head on this one. What's new? I think that in Australia, there are honey ants. Some of the ants store honey in their enlarged south ends. They are found for food but not commercially.

[Common Tator]

I will be going to the big box store this afternoon, and one of the things I will be buying is extra honey. I am worried about food production and honey production with the colony collapse that is occurring. Two of our three hives didn't survive the winter this year.

[fishhead]

Indirectly bees (not just honeybees) are responsible for a whole lot of our crops. They are used for pollenation and pest control.

[WillfulGal]

Bees are the only source that I know of for honey that humans consume.

(I would disagree that they make honey for us. They make it for themselves, we just take it!)

[RockyGlen]

I have not tried this, but if you are looking for a sugary substance, you could try sugar beets.

Sugar beet syrup
An unrefined sugary syrup can be produced directly from sugar beet. This thick, dark syrup is produced by cooking shredded sugar beet for several hours, then pressing the resulting sugar beet mash and concentrating the juice produced until it has the consistency similar to that of honey. No other ingredients are used. In Germany, particularly the Rhineland area, this sugar beet syrup (called Zuckerrüben Sirup in German) is used as a spread for sandwiches, as well as for sweetening sauces, cakes and desserts.

Commercially, if the syrup has a Dextrose Equivalency above 30 DE, the product has to be hydrolyzed and converted to a high-fructose syrup, much like high-fructose corn syrup, or iso-glucose syrup in the EU.

[Kmac15]

yes honey bees are the only insect to produce a honey that humans can harvest.

at least that is the word from my instructor.

[foxtrapper]

Bumble bees make honey. Rather difficult to harvest as they store it in pots in small underground hives. Mason bees also make a honey as I recall, but it's not harvestable, just enough is placed in the cell for that individual bee.

[Wisconsin Ann]

I think the question is :are there OTHER insects that produce a substance that humans use as food? (not just honey....are there any other substances that we see as food that are produced by insects?)

I can't think of any offhand.

[turtlehead]

Grubs
Insects make grubs!

[Meg Z]

Insects produce lots of things that we use, and we eat a lot of different types, but as far as I can find, honey is the only edible PRODUCT of insects.

[Danaus29]

Lots of people in many different cultures eat a variety of insects. As far as I know no other insect produces a harvestable crop that is fit for human consumption.

[Ross]

Seems to me bees also collect and store pollen that is taken by people and royal jelly is also harvested but we're still talking bees. Spider venom is used medically and the web industrially silk worm silk is another insect product we use but its not food. I do think there is a different species of insect that produces a food people use but I'm drawing a blank. How about yeast making beer for us! Not exactly an arthropod but neither was the spider.

[fin29]

I suppose any insect converting what it eats to body mass for us to consume is an insect producing a product humans can eat. A quick trip to the market in a southeast Asian market will tell you there are MANY sources of protein our Piggly Wiggly sensibilities prevent us from exploring...

Here's an exhaustive (that means "complete," momlaffsalot ) list of the edible insects of North America:
http://www.food-insects.com/book7_31...Indigenous.htm

The complete world list is here:
http://www.food-insects.com/book7_31...20Resource.htm

[OkieDavid]

As Foxtrapper says, bumble bees make honey and store it in very small quantities. I'll challenge/volunteer someone on this board to locate a colony (easy enough with a brush hog...trust me) and harvest some......Let me know how that smoker works for ya

P.S. PLEASE take someone armed with a video camera when you do........

[foxtrapper]

I've tried for two years running to harvest honey from a nest of bumble bees that lives in the ground by my porch. Darned if I can successfully follow the hole down to the nest. I keep trying because I'm curious about it, but I just don't have any success.

[baldylocks]

My Grandpa tells the story of hunting for bublebee nests to dig and eat the honey. He bee-lined and found bee trees often too. Honeybees were easier but he said bumblebee honey was good and fun too...not really something you can manage/harvest/count on though. They can't be managed like honeybees

[Quint]

All of my bee trees in my timber seem to be disappearing. I don't know if it the CCD they have been talking about or mites or what but trees that have had hives in them for years and years are now devoid of bees. One big old cottonwood had a colony in it for as long as I can remember and my mom said it had bees in it when she was a girl and it has disappeared.

One of the bee trees somewhat close to the house had it's residents disappear last spring. It happened to blow down this winter and just out of curiosity I think I may go down and cut the thing open to see if there are a bunch of dead bees in there or what.

[silentcrow]

Isn't there a mite used for red food coloring? I know it's not the same as bees making honey, but it is from an insect.

[blufford]

Originally Posted by silentcrow

Isn't there a mite used for red food coloring? I know it's not the same as bees making honey, but it is from an insect.

That would be a strech!