Coriander honey is produced by honey bees harvesting and processing the nectar from the cilantro plant, more commonly known as coriander.Usually, the seeds of the plant are referred to as “coriander”, while the plant is called “cilantro”. Despite this, people often confuse and say coriander to describe the whole plant and its produce.
Coriander Honey
The moment the honey bee collects the coriander (cilantro) nectar, it is mixed with an enzyme within the bees mouth. The enzyme itself is known as invertase or the “bee enzyme” which is secreted from the bee’s glands. When the honey bees return to the hive, they will pass the coriander nectar they have collected between themselves further mixing the nectar with the “bee enzyme”.
This will reduce the water content converting the nectar into honey. They will then deposit the coriander honey into wax cells, but at this point, the water content may be too high. To reduce the water content, the honey bees will fan their wings above the wax cell, this, in turn, will evaporate some of the water.
Once they’ve finished the process, the coriander honey will have a water content roughly below 20%. It will then be capped, and the honey bees will repeat the process all over again.