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SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL HONEY MONTH
(It's a bee-autiful thing!)
Think
you know a lot about honey? Chances are there are some facts that may surprise
you. Here is some fun honey trivia to test your knowledge!
(To find the answers, hover
your mouse over the 
after each question.
Answers also appear at the end of the quiz.)
Honey & Honeycombs ((top
1. Honey comb cells contain all the following except
A) Nectar (or honey)
B) Pollen
C) Brood (eggs, larvae or pupae)
D) Sleeping honey bees
2. How many sides does each honeycomb cell have?
A) Six
B) Four
C) Eight
D) None – the cells are round
3. Early man considered bees mysterious and magical creatures because their amazing organized labor turned flower nectar into honey, known as
A) “a food for all seasons”
B) “a cure for whatever ails you”
C) “sweets for the sweet”
D) “nectar for the gods”
4. Bees make honey from
A) pollen
B) wax
C) nectar
D) enzymes
5. Honey has different flavors and colors, depending on the kinds of flowers the bees visit as well as the ___________ .
A) location
B) time of year
C) size of the hive
D) flavorings added by the manufacturer
Honeybees (top)
6. How many bees equal the weight of one M&M's plain chocolate candy?
A) 3-4
B) 1-2
C) 13-15
D) 9-10
7. Male bees are called
A) drubs
B) drones
C) workers
D) pages
8. Bees carry nectar in their crop or honey stomach, while pollen is carried in the
A) pollen basket
B) crop
C) foot pads
D) stinger
9. How many eggs can a Queen bee lay in one day?
A) 5,000-6,000
B) 200-500
C) 800-1,000
D) 1,000-3,000
10. What gives a bee sting its ouch and itch?
A) The stinger
B) A chemical called mellitin
C) Pollen on the stinger
D) Nothing special – it’s the body’s natural response to invasion
11. How many wings does a honey bee have?
A) Two
B) Four
C) Six
D) Eight
12. How many legs does a bee have?
A) Six
B) Eight
C) Four
D) Five
13. How many eyes does a bee have?
A) Two
B) Four
C) Five
D) Ten
14. Bees and humans have in all the following senses in common except
A) Taste
B) Touch
C) Smell
D) Hearing Bees may feel sounds.
15. How many flowers must honey bees tap to make one pound of honey?
A) 556
B) 837
C) 162,000
D) 2,000,000
16. How many miles does a hive of bees fly to gather nectar to produce one pound of honey?
A) 55,000
B) 5,000
C) 500
D) 5
17. How much honey would it take to fuel a bee's flight around the world?
A) About one ounce
B) 5 ounces
C) 1.3 pounds
D) 4.7 pounds
18. What percentage of insect crop pollination is accomplished by honey bees?
A) 50%
B) 62%
C) 80 %
D) 95 %
19. How do honey bees "communicate" with one another?
A) Rubbing their antennae together
B) Dancing
C) Flapping their wings
D) Singing
20. How much honey do bees need to make the wax in a 5.71 centimeter (2.25 inch) birthday candle?
A) 8 ounces
B) 1 pound
C) 3 ounces
D) 1/3 ounce
Honey & History (top)
21. Ancient Egyptians and the Romans used honey to
A) seal documents
B) pay their taxes
C) repair cracked pottery
D) trap flies
22. In __________ , this sublime nectar is dubbed "the heavenly food."
A) the book To Kill a Mockingbird
B) the Bible
C) Shakespeare’s sonnets
D) English literature
23. To the ancients, honey was a source of health, a sign of purity and a symbol of
A) strength and virility
B) family and wealth
C) companionship and love
D) sweetness and friendship
24. In Greek mythology, it is said that cupid dipped his arrows in honey to
A) make them stick to their target
B) heal the wounds from the arrows
C) fill the lovers’ hearts with sweetness
D) bribe the gods
25. Physicians in ancient Rome used honey to help their patients
A)gain weight
B) fall asleep
C) lose weight
D) heal broken bones
26. The ancient Greeks _____________________ with bees on them.
A) made jewelry
B) baked bread
C) forged breastplates
D) minted coins
27. In 50 BC, the Romans painted pictures with
A) honey
B) melted dyed beeswax
C) nectar
D) oil of bees
28. In Biblical days, __________ lived on a diet of wild locust and honey.
A) John the Baptist
B) Jesus
C) Paul
D) Joseph
29. Napoleon used the bee as a symbol of his empire after his coronation in 1804. It stood for
A) wealth, power and popularity
B) health, happiness and friendship
C) life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
D) industry, efficiency and productivity
30. In Celtic myths, bees possess ____________ garnered from the other world.
A) a secret wisdom
B) charms
C) gold
D) magic potions
31. In Australia and Africa, bees are found as ________________ .
A) magic charms
B) gourmet treats
C) as tribal totems
D) pets
32. In 1984, honeybees
A) became a protected species
B) traveled to outer space
C) invaded Poland
D) attacked cattle in Montana
33. In 1984, a backstage worker at the Paris opera established one of the most unusually sited beehives
A) above the stage
B) in the atrium
C) in the orchestra pit
D) on the roof of the opera house
Honey & Health (top)
34. Honey contains vitamins and antioxidants, but is
A) protein free
B) sodium free
C) sugar free
D) carbohydrate
35. Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to
A) fertilize plants
B) produce glucose
C) make wax
D) sustain life
36. Honey has always been highly regarded as a _____________ .
A) medicine
B) aphrodisiac
C) magic potion
D) kingly food
37. Honey’s ability to attract and absorb moisture makes it remarkably useful as a
A) food preservative
B) dessert topping
C) beauty treatment
D) insect repellent
38. Honey is nature's
A) perfect food
B) energy booster
C) love potion
D) laxative
Honey & Food (top)
39. Pollen is a source of __________?
A) protein
B) fat
C) arsenic
D) sodium
40. How long can you store honey in the cupboard?
A) 1 month
B) 2 months
C) 3 months
D) Indefinitely
41. In Nice, France, Christmas is celebrated with nougat blanc, a candy made of honey, almond and egg white. Spring, in Poland, is greeted with glasses of honey wine and the Jewish New Year is welcomed with honey cake or apples dipped in honey, to insure _____________________ in the year ahead.
A) a sweet life
B) sweet dreams
C) wealth
D) good health
42. The beer that the first Anglo-Saxons drank was a brew of _______________ in a clay pot.
A) water and honeycomb
B) bees and water
C) honey and ale
D) nectar and ale
43. What Scotch liqueur is made with honey?
A) Malt
B) Drambuie
C) Scotch
D) Rum
44. What is the U.S. per capita consumption of honey per year?
A) 6 pounds
B) 4.6 ounds
C) 1.31 pounds
D) 9.7 ounces
45. What is the proper name for honey wine?
A) Mead
B) Grog
C) Guinness
D) Honey wine
Honey Lingo (top)
46. What term describes the shortest and quickest route the nectar-gathering bee follows to return to the hive?
A) “making a beeline for”
B) “bee there or bee square”
C) “the shortest distance between two points”
D) “don’t go around in circles”
47. A beekeeper is called a(n)
A) glutton for punishment
B) beekeeper
C) apiarist
D) hivemaster
48. An apiary is a location where beekeepers set out a group of beehives. They are commonly referred to as a(n)
A) bee colony
B) bee farm
C) bee base
D) bee yard
49. The old-style beehive shaped structures are called
A) bee skeps
B) beehives
C) honeycombs
D) bee cones
50. The word "honeymoon" carries the significance that the first month of marriage is the
A) busiest
B) sweetest
C) most loving
D) stickiest
51. In the 15th century, honey was known as
A) "the soul of flowers"
B) “the sweetness of life”
C) “regal nectar”
D) “the sweetener of choice”
52. What state is known as the beehive state?
A) Oklahoma
B) Arkansas
C) South Dakota
D) Utah
53. The honey bee is the official state insect/bug of
A) Missouri
B) New Jersey
C) South Dakota
D) Maine
54. The phrase "the bee's knees", means
A) "the height of excellence"
B) “bent on flying”
C) “sticky situation”
D) “buzzing with activity”
55. A “bee in one's bonnet” means a person has
A) and excruciating headache
B) tinnitus (a buzzing or ringing in the ears)
C) a strange idea
D) strayed too close to the hive
Honey & Honeycombs top)
1. D) Sleeping honey bees – Honey bees do not sleep though the may be found resting in empty cells.
2. A) Six
3. D) "nectar for the gods".
4. C) nectar – Honey is created when bees mix plant nectar, a sweet substance secreted by flowers, with their own bee enzymes. To make the honey, bees drop the collected nectar into the honeycomb. Nectar as gathered by the bee contains about 70% water (Honey is about 17% water). Bees remove the excess moisture from nectar by rapidly fanning their wings over the open cells in the hive.
5. A) location – Climactic conditions of the area also influence its flavor and color. Honey varies in color from white through golden to dark brown and usually the darker the color the stronger the flavor.
Honeybees (top)
6. D) 9-10
7. B) drones – Drones are not found in the hive during the winter, as the worker bees (which are female) force them out of the hive in the fall. Some worker bees are nurse bees, whose job is to feed the larvae. The honeybee is not born knowing how to make honey; the younger bees are taught by the more experienced ones.
8. A) pollen basket – Also called the corbicula, this structure is on the tibia or midsegment of each hind leg. The size of an average pollen load is about 1/6 the weight of a worker bee.
9. D) 1,000-3,000 – A queen has to eat about 80 times her own weight each day to produce 2,000 eggs. That is equivalent to a 12-year-old human eating about 6400 pounds of food!
10. B) A chemical called mellitin – Honeybees are gentle. They're interested only in flowers, so they rarely sting. In fact, honey bees are reluctant to sting, as the loss of its stinger causes the bee to die.
11. B) Four - its wings beat 200 times per second or 12,000 beats / minute.
12. A) Six - like most insects
13. C) Five – two large compound eyes and three simple eyes called ocelli. A bee can detect events separated by 1/300 of a second, about six times faster than human perception. Bees can see ultra-violet colors, which people can’t see.
14. D) Hearing – Bees may feel sounds.
15. D) 2,000,000 – The average honey bee visits 50-100 flowers during one collection trip. It requires 556 worker bees to gather a pound of honey. Flowers have bright markings and strong smells to attract bees and other insects so that they will pollinate flowers. Some also have dark lines called ‘honey guides’ which scientists believe help insects find their way into the flowers.
16. A) 55,000 – The average honey bee, who makes only 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime (0.0288 ounce), flies a maximum of about 8.5 miles at a rate of 15 mph and lives only about 6 weeks.. A colony of honey bees in early spring has 10,000-15,000 bees. A colony of honey bees in summer, the peak of the honey-gathering season, has 50-60,000 bees. A normal colony of honey bees contains only one queen. There may be 60,000 or more worker who do all the work. There will also be several hundred drones. A single honey bee colony can produce more than 100 pounds (45 kg) of extra honey and this is what is harvested by the beekeeper. Some beekeepers in Alberta and Saskatchewan regularly harvest over 300 lbs (136 kg) of honey per colony. Nearly one million ton of honey is produced worldwide every year.
17. A) About one ounce – or or two Tablespoons. Honey is the primary food source for the bee. The reason honeybees are so busy collecting nectar from flowers and blossoms is to make sufficient food stores for their colony over the winter months.
18. C) 80 % – There are three million honey bee colonies “on the road” each year to pollinate crops, with a monetary agricultural value of $14.6 billion annually.
19. B) Dancing - Honey bees do a dance which alerts other bees where nectar and pollen is located. When a bee finds a good source of nectar it flies back to the hive and shows its friends where the nectar source is by doing a sort of dance positioning the flower in relation to the sun and the hive. This is known as the 'waggle dance.' The dance explains direction and distance.
20. D) 1/3 ounce
Honey & History top)
21. B) pay their taxes (instead of gold)
22. B) the Bible
23. A) strength and virility - Democritus (460-370 BC), Greek philosopher and physician, chose a diet rich in honey and lived until he was 109 years old.
24. C) fill the lovers’ hearts with sweetness
25. B) fall asleep
26. D) minted coins
27. B) melted dyed beeswax
28. A) John the Baptist
29. D) industry, efficiency and productivity – Also emblematic of immortality and resurrection, the bee was chosen to link the new dynasty to the very origins of France. Golden bees (cicadas really) were discovered in 1653 in Tournai in the tomb of Childeric I (father of Clovis) who founded the Merovingian dynasty in 457. They were considered to be the oldest emblem of the sovereigns of France.
30. A) a secret wisdom
31. C) as tribal totems
32. B) traveled to outer space – as part of an experiment, the honeybees constructed a honeycomb in zero gravity on a space shuttle.
33. D) on the roof of the opera house – The "opera bees" gather their nectar as they visit flowers all over the city of Paris. The fruits of their labors are on sale in the souvenir shop of the opera.
Honey & Health top)
34. B) sodium free – Honey is also fat free, cholesterol free and sodium free! One antioxidant called "pinocembrin" is only found in honey.
35. D) sustain life – including water. Democritus (460-370 B.C.), Greek philosopher and physician, chose a diet rich in honey and lived until he was 109 years old.
36. A) medicine – Honey was the most used medicine in ancient Egypt. Of the more than 900 medical remedies we know about for that time, more than 500 of them were honey based. Honey is thought to help everything from sore throats and digestive disorders to skin problems and hay fever. For years, opera singers have used honey to boost their energy and soothe their throats before performances. It has antiseptic properties and historically was often used as a dressing for wounds and a first aid treatment for soothing minor burns and cuts, helping to prevent scarring. As recently as the First World War, honey was being mixed with cod liver oil to dress wounds on the battlefield. Modern science now acknowledges honey as an anti-microbial agent, which means it deters the growth of certain types of bacteria, yeast and molds.
37. C) beauty treatment – It was part of Cleopatra’s daily beauty ritual. Even today, honey and beeswax form the basics of many skin creams, lipsticks, and hand lotions. Queen Anne of England, in the early 1700's, invented a honey and olive oil preparation to keep her hair healthy and lustrous.
38. B) energy booster – The natural fruit sugars in honey - fructose and glucose - are very quickly digested by the body, providing a concentrated energy source that helps prevent fatigue and can boost athletic performance. Honey supplies 2 stages of energy. The glucose in honey is absorbed by the body quickly and gives an immediate energy boost. The fructose is absorbed more slowly providing sustained energy. Recent studies have proven that athletes who took some honey before and after competing recovered more quickly than those who did not.
Honey & Food top)
39. A) protein
40. D) Indefinitely – Honey never spoils. No need to refrigerate it. It can be stored unopened, indefinitely, at room temperature in a dry cupboard. A jar of honey found in an King Tut’s tomb was still edible!
41. A) a sweet life
42. A) water and honeycomb – with the addition of herbs for flavoring.
43. B) Drambuie
44. C) 1.31 pounds
45. A) Mead
Honey Lingo top)
46. A) “making a beeline for”
47. C) apiarist
48. D) bee yard
49. A) bee skeps – While bee skeps are not in widespread use today, their charm continues to be associated with beekeeping. The modern rectangular beehive is merely a more convenient adaptation to the honeybees' behavior.
50. B) sweetest
51. A) "the soul of flowers"
52. D) Utah
53. All of the above
54. A) "the height of excellence" – The phrase became popular in the U.S. in the 1920s, along with "the cat's whiskers" (possibly from the use of these in radio crystal sets), "the cat's pajamas" (pajamas were still new enough to be daring), and similar phrases which made less sense and didn't endure: "the eel's ankle", "the elephant's instep", "the snake's hip". Stories in circulation about the phrase's origin include: "b's and e's", short for "be-alls and end-alls"; and a corruption of "business".
55. C) a strange idea – Also, an idea that is harped on, an obsession. This term, which replaced the earlier “have bees in one's head”, transfers the buzzing of a bee inside one's hat to a weird idea in one's head.
(top)
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