It is the product of one of the most intelligent and industrious of creatures, whose miniature society is one of the most sophisticated in the animal kingdom. It's been used in religious and Pagan celebrations, and it's medicinal qualities have been known for centuries.

It all begins in a field where worker honeybees suck nectar from flower blossoms, such as clover. They store it in their honey sack, then return to the hive where other worker bees suck it out and chew it, breaking down the nectar's complex sugars into two simple sugars called glucose and fructose. The bees then deposit the nectar into the cells of the wax honeycombs they've built. They fan it with their wings until most of the water content evaporates in the warm air of the beehive.