Thank you for the reference. I just now read the composition of honey section of The Hive and the Honey Bee, 1999 printing. I found 4 relevant quotes which (IMO) neither fully support nor refute your assertion nor mine. The gluconic acid level in honey could be more a function of how long the honey had high moisture content and less a function of the amount of glucose oxidase added by the bees (above some threshold). Proline levels do seem to increase with each pass through the honey stomach but I did not see a statement of how the glucose oxidase gets added. pp 878: "The gluconic acid present in all honey originates largely from the activity of the glucose oxidase which the bees add at ripening...." pp 880, regarding glucoinvertase: "The consistently high sucrose content of some honeys (citrus, some clovers, and others) normally results from such heavy nectar flows or such high-sugar nectars that relatively little manipulation by the bees is needed to achieve honey density so that their invertase level is considerably less than most other honeys." pp 880, regarding glucose oxidase activity: "It is necessary to dilute honey to measure the activity." pp 883, regarding concentration of the amino acid proline in honey: "They related its concentration to the extent of manipulation by the bees in converting nectar into honey." **************************************************** * General Information About BEE-L is available at: * * http://www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/default.htm * ****************************************************