Sunflower honey

Organic Sunflower Honey from Austria – sun-yellow & creamy from Lower Austria

The organic sunflower honey from BIO Imkerei Neber comes from sunflower fields in Lower Austria. Sun-yellow, creamy, aromatically sweet and spicy, and despite its bright color, not too sweet. A single-varietal organic honey from Austria, with no additives and no flavorings.

Organic sunflower honey is a creamy, sun-yellow varietal honey made from the nectar of the sunflower (Helianthus annuus), which the BIO Imkerei Neber harvests in June and July from the sunflower fields of Lower Austria. Anton Neber, a master beekeeper since 2002, brings his Carnica honey bee colonies to the hilly landscapes east of Vienna during the sunflower bloom and processes the harvest in his own honey enjoyment cellar ("Honig-GENUSS-keller") in Sankt Lorenzen im Mürztal. What arrives in the 250-gram jar is organic honey from Austria – single-varietal, natural, and without any other ingredients.

Sun-yellow, creamy, sweet and spicy

In the jar, the sunflower honey displays a vibrant shade of yellow, almost like the field of flowers itself. When spooned, it unfolds a creamy sweetness with a fine spicy note – despite its bright color, it is not too sweet, but pleasantly balanced. You can recognize it by its golden yellow color and its spreadable, firm consistency.

Sunflower honey crystallizes relatively quickly – this is a sign of authenticity in good honey and not a defect. The sunflower, a compass plant about two meters tall, always turns its composite flowers, which consist of about 15,000 individual florets, toward the sun. At midday, when the bees are pollinating, the nectar has its highest sugar content of around 35 percent.

Sunflower honey – creamy on bread and in yogurt

On a slice of good sourdough bread with butter, sunflower honey is right at home – you don't need anything else. On a slice of Original Ultner bread, lightly toasted, it unfolds its creamy sweetness beautifully – the traditional South Tyrolean organic bread supports the honey with depth.

In yogurt with fresh berries in the morning, in muesli, or as a sweet ingredient in salad dressing with apple cider vinegar, it remains creamy and spreadable. For your cup of breakfast tea or coffee, a teaspoon dissolved in water below 40 degrees Celsius is sufficient to preserve the delicate aromas.

Three generations of beekeeping from Upper Styria

Behind BIO Imkerei Neber are Anton and Gerlinde Neber, a third-generation family beekeeping business from Sankt Lorenzen im Mürztal in Upper Styria. Anton passed his master beekeeper exam at the Styrian Beekeeping School in 2002 and has been working with the native Carnica bee ever since, a bee breed that has been adapted to the Alpine region for centuries. Gerlinde manages the partnership and handles sales in the honey enjoyment cellar.

The sunflower is an important forage plant for bees and also a remarkable helper for the climate: a single sunflower binds the carbon dioxide of a room of about 100 cubic meters, as Anton describes the biological background during a discussion about his range. Choosing sunflower honey therefore indirectly supports the insect world of your home region. Since 2007, the honey has been extracted gently in the company's own honey enjoyment cellar, not heated, and filled by hand in small batches. In the BIO Imkerei Neber range, you will find other single-varietal organic honeys from Austria.

It crystallizes quickly, and that's a good thing

The right place to store organic sunflower honey is dark and cool at 10 to 18 degrees Celsius. Sunflower honey crystallizes relatively quickly – this is a quality characteristic of an untreated honey. Warm in a water bath at a maximum of 40 degrees for five to ten minutes if the consistency becomes firmer – this preserves the enzymes. Never heat in the microwave, as the delicate aromas will be lost.

Organic inspection body AT-BIO-301 Austrian Agriculture