Our local Orthodox Rabbi is interested in honey production, and so I invited
him to my extraction a couple of days ago. Our discussion of honey elicited
a question: observant Jews aren't allowed to eat the products of "unclean"
animals and insects. Honey is allowed because the bee doesn't produce honey
from its body (like a milk product, for example), but is simply a "carrier"
of honey. But, I pointed out to him, bees do add enzymes that change the
nectar, so it isn't just a matter of them carrying it in a jug home. The
question asked by the rabbi was this: how much bee spit is there in honey?
Even Orthodox Jews understand that almost nothing is 100% (though they try
for it!), and if the amount is less than 1/60, then they don't worry about
it. Honey is considered kosher, so we wondered what that percentage is.

(Beeswax is also considered "kosher," by the way, because even though it is
a product of a non-kosher insect, it is not considered "food." So whether
it's used in cosmetics or chewed to extract the honey and pollen, it is
permitted.)

I decided not to discuss honeydew honey with him.

Thanks for any info!

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Lesli Sagan
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