Honeybees produce honey from nectar to store as food. Foraging worker bees collect nectar from flowers, carry it in a specialized crop sometimes called a honey stomach, and return it to the hive.
Inside the colony, worker bees process the nectar with digestive enzymes that break complex sugars into simpler sugars. They spread the liquid in honeycomb cells and fan their wings to evaporate water, transforming it into the thicker, more stable substance called honey. Once sufficiently concentrated, the bees seal the cell with beeswax.
Honey supplies carbohydrates for adult bees and helps the colony survive periods when flowers are scarce, especially winter. Pollen serves a different purpose: it provides much of the protein and fat needed by developing larvae. Beeswax is construction material, while royal jelly is a glandular food produced by nurse bees for the queen and young larvae.
Honey is therefore not simply concentrated nectar. It is nectar chemically modified by the bees and preserved through dehydration and storage in wax comb. Different flowers can give honey distinctive colors, flavors, and aromas.