Pictures: Colored Honey Made by Candy-Eating French Bees

Blue Honeycomb

Photograph by Vincent Kessler, Reuters

This honeycomb shows some of the remnants of the colored honey found in one of the French beehives. The bright blue liquid isn't technically honey, as it came from a non-floral source.

To produce honey, bees collect nectar from nearby flowers and return to the hive to store it in honeycombs.

(See "'Zombie' Bees Electronically Enhanced to Help Solve Die-Off Mystery.")

Published October 11, 2012

Two Shades of Honey

Photograph by Vincent Kessler, Reuters

Compared with normal honey (pictured at right), the honey colored by M&M's (pictured at left) ranges from greenish-blue to dark, opaque brown in color.

Fresh honey takes on qualities of the source from which it came, said Dennis vanEngelsdorp, a bee expert at University of Maryland, College Park.

Honey from orange blossom nectar is light in color and citrusy in flavor, while honey from buckwheat nectar is dark colored with a strong earthy flavor.

(See "How Honey Curbs the MRSA Superbug.")

Published October 11, 2012

Going Green

Photograph by Vincent Kessler, Reuters

French beekeeper Andre Frieh shows a sample of green-colored honey he harvested at his home in Ribeauville.

(See: "Tiny Radio Tags Offer Glimpse Into Bees' Universe.")

Published October 11, 2012

Out of the Blue

Photograph by Vincent Kessler, Reuters

The blue shade in the honeycomb above isn't the first case of bees producing colored "honey."

In 2010, the New York Times reported that bees kept in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook were producing red goo reminiscent of cough syrup. As it turns out, local bees were heading over to a nearby factory that produced maraschino cherries to eat instead of foraging in the gardens of their keepers.

"Honeybees will look for resources wherever they can find them," said Dino Martins, a Kenyan entomologist and National Geographic Emerging Explorer. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)

"Just like us humans, they have a sweet tooth as they seek out nectar for making their honey."

Published October 11, 2012

Next: Pictures: Rare Bees Make Flower-Mud "Sandwiches"

Photograph courtesy J.G. Rozen, AMNH

Published October 11, 2012