Peter Hutton wrote (in partial response to Stan Sandler's query):
 
>Your information is in part right, there is perhaps some omission. Bees collect
>nectar nectar from flowers, sucrose and some other sugars, water content
>varies, some researchers report from 40%-80%. Foraging Bees add invertase to
>convert sucrose to fructose and glucose on return journey to hive. Regurgitates
>nectar to hive bees who ingest and regurgitate, hold droplets in proboscis and
>eventually paste onto cell walls. In each movement water is extracted or
>evaporated. I personally would not call nectar thick, it is very aqueous in my
>opinion, ripe honey is better described as thick. (dense, viscous)
 
   We used to call such a process "ripening," a term now seldom used.
Peter is correct, though, as one can find in THE HIVE AND THE HONEY BEE
(1992 edition: pp. 92,93).
 
   One can also consult the alphabetical listing (Nectar, Conversion to
Honey) in the ABC AND XYZ OF BEE CULTURE (1990 edition: pp. 329,330).
 
                                                        Adrian
 
Adrian M. Wenner                    (805) 963-8508 (home phone)
967 Garcia Road                     (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93106
 
****************************************************************************
**********
*
 
*     "The flaws of a theory never lead to is rejection....Scientists
tolerate
*   theories that can easily be demonstrated to be inadequate."
 
*
 
*                                                      Carl Lindegren, 1966
 
****************************************************************************
**********