# Sunflower Honey?



## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

AHudd said:


> Does anyone know where most of the Sunflower honey is produced or how much is a product of the US? I did read the Honey report that states the Dakotas has Sunflower honey, but it doesn't report the amount.
> 
> Any insight on this subject would be appreciated. :scratch:
> 
> ...


Indeed, while traveling across SD, ND (along the Missouri river, highway 2), and traversing Montana along the highway 2 also, I observed lot of sunflower in places where the moisture was sufficient.
And they had bees too.
There has to be honey.

It is just it is not the best honey.
It also crystallizes quickly.
I imagine it is sold into food processing rather than retail.

No idea of the numbers; never cared to research.


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## Tim KS (May 9, 2014)

Kansas is the Sun Flower state.....well the sun flower is the state flower anyway. I can find sunflowers all around me....in ditches. along creeks, and even in corn & bean fields where herbicides failed for some reason. There are a few fields of the 'tame' variety planted around, but only occasionally. I don't follow my bees around, so I'm not sure what they forage on most of the time. :scratch:


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

I think we are talking the cultivated, seed/oil sunflowers.
Those are typically worked heavily by the bees AND require cross-pollination.


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

Thanks for the replies, guys.
I didn't know if there was a state or area that had a lot of it and a market to match, in order to label it as a varietal honey. I was hoping someone was familiar with such an area. I am tired of reading countless articles via google on the magical properties of everyone's Sunflower Honey.
Most of it comes from China as far as I can tell. 

Thanks again,
Alex


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

AHudd said:


> Thanks for the replies, guys.
> I didn't know if there was a state or area that had a lot of it and a market to match, in order to label it as a varietal honey. I was hoping someone was familiar with such an area. I am tired of reading countless articles via google on the magical properties of everyone's Sunflower Honey.
> Most of it comes from China as far as I can tell.
> 
> ...


Ukraine/Southern Russia are big on sunflower honey.
I doubt they import here.
I would also doubt of the purity of it (in terms of pesticide usage they have total anarchy there now days).


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/fvmhoney.pdf
Ukraine is on track to export around 20 million pounds of mostly ELA honey to the US at around .70 per pound, much of it sunflower. I’ve raised a lot of he stuff myself through the years. It’s not a bad honey, some of it goes almost white, but it comes in late and can darken your light early honey if it isn’t pulled off ahead of the sunflower flow. It also must be pulled off promptly as granulation in the comb can be a real problem. For these reasons and the danger of pesticides I prefer to not even see sunflowers around. Btw, don’t confuse the large headed, cultivated oil sunflowers that produce honey with the wild sunflowers that bloom in the fall in uncultivated areas. I’ve never seen a honeybee on a wild sunflower.


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

jim lyon said:


> ...... Btw, don’t confuse the large headed, cultivated oil sunflowers that produce honey with the wild sunflowers that bloom in the fall in uncultivated areas. *I’ve never seen a honeybee on a wild sunflower.*


Exactly my point.
Just not much there for them, save for pollen, possibly.

As far as honey from Ukraine - a bad deal and I would stay away.

A good indication why - too many complaints from the beekeepers there how their bees just drop due to uncoordinated and unregulated pesticide applications.
Now - think of all the times when they got lucky - and the bees kept working the pesticide drenched fields - I'd stay away from that honey.

The sunflower is NOT terrible honey as is by any means (it is a fine product) - just the pollution factor when harvested from mono-culture crops is always there.
Some people look out for this specific honey and want just it.
Similar to myself looking for buckwheat honey, since I got none of my own. 
Some people would rate buckwheat honey as "strange" at best and "terrible" at worst.
To me - it is the best.


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