Frequently Asked Questions

Question:
Airborne Honey is a 110-year-old family-owned business. We are New Zealand’s oldest honey company. Behind each jar is over 100 years of experience, along with 27 years of laboratory experience. 

Airborne Honey is the only honey brand with a verification process to ensure that our honey is unfiltered, undamaged by heat, and is fully traceable. Honesty to us means ensuring the honey is unfiltered. This means that nothing is added to or removed from the honey itself, with the exception foreign inorganic or organic matter that does not belong in the honey. Undamaged means verifying the quality of the honey is not diminished during the heating process. This is important because Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) levels increase with the temperature the honey has been exposed to. They also increase with the age of the honey. Therefore, high HMF levels = heat and age damage. Airborne has developed a patented process which prevents such heat damage occurring. The CODEX HMF standard for honey is 40mg/kg. Other NZ honey companies have an average HMF level of approximately 22mg/kg. Airborne honeys boast an average HMF level of approximately 6mg/kg! Our honey is clearly the lowest average heat damaged honey on the market. Traceable. All our honey is traceable by scanning the QR code on the jar or adding the batch number into our home page to get all the information for your jar of honey. This will show you the location of the apiaries where the busy bees who made your honey live! This feature can be found here: https://www.airborne.co.nz/pages/traceme  

Our Manuka Health range is available online, as well our Floral clover honey!

Shipping costs $7.00 for all orders under $100.00 and is free for orders over $100.00!  

Yes! We use recyclable courier bags. 

We ship all around New Zealand. 

Unfortunately, we can't send to PO boxes. But a great alternative is sending to your work address. 

We aim to have orders dispatched and delivered to our customers within 5 working days. During busy periods, Christmas, and public holidays, delays in delivery can occur due to the capacity of our transport providers and business holiday closures between Christmas and New Year. 

We do not currently offer international shipping but watch this space! 

Once your order has been picked up or scanned by the courier, tracking information will be sent via email with further updates along the way. 

You may cancel your order prior to your order being processed. Please be aware that orders are usually dispatched within 24 hours, if the order has already been processed your goods will be on their way. You can still return the goods for a full refund, but the honey must not be opened. We will refund the cost of your order to the credit card used to purchase the products, excluding shipping. Please note that any credit/ refund applied to a credit card will take 3-5 working days. 

Bees will live around six weeks in the honey season and up to six months in the winter months. Queen bees will live up to six years, but the average is two-three years. 

Creamed honey should be stored at 14 degrees Celsius Liquid honey at 20-22 degrees Celsius. 

The plastic we use in our jars is PET and is BPA free!  It's also highly recyclable and because of its light weight saves significant energy when freighting our products around the world. You can read more detail about BPA and PET here: http://www.petresin.org/news_NoBPAinPET.asp 

There are so many ways to eat and enjoy your honey! On toast, in your tea and coffee, with a scone or a crumpet or simply by itself...the opportunities are endless. 

Airborne Honey uses the International CODEX standard to define our manuka honey. While most other honey brands use a UMF and MGO measurement, we have the research to show that pollen count as verification of the purity of the Manuka levels in honey is a more valid approach. There is no correlation between our manuka pollen content rating and the commercial trademarks UMF and MGO. Methylglyoxal (MGO) is found in honey varieties other than Manuka meaning its presence is no guarantee that the honey is Manuka. Our Manuka pollen percentage helps customers verify the true Manuka content of the honey. 

Pollen in honey is used as a tool to identify the honey’s origin. Pollen from a target flower species is in the flower nectar that is collected by bees and turned into honey. All our honeys are 100% pure and natural New Zealand floral honeys. We test every batch of honey to determine exactly what variety of honey it is. No natural honey has 100% of any flower type, as the bees will produce honey from whatever flowers are in the area.  

HMF( Hydroxymethlfurfural) levels below 10mg/kg are the best way of determining the honey is natural and undamaged by heat. Levels increase with the age and the temperature the honey has been exposed to. High HMF levels indicate heat and age damage. Airborne Honey has patented a unique technology that almost entirely minimizes heat damage to honey and delivers to the consumer the most natural and undamaged honey possible. 

UMF (Unique Manuka Factor) is a trademark held by an association of honey companies (Active Manuka Honey Association) – Not a New Zealand Government Standard. Airborne honey does not subscribe to the UMF trademarks as there is no clinical evidence on the benefits from orally consuming honey which contains UMF. 

There is no gluten in honey. 

Children under the age of 1 year should not consume honey. In some countries, consumers are warned against giving honey to infants because of the risk of Clostridium botulinum. The risk to New Zealand infants (or adults with altered “at risk” gastrointestinal status) from Clostridium botulinum spores in New Zealand produced honey appears to be extremely low, therefore including statements on labels to warn against this practice is not required. 

Honey doesn't really 'expire'. If it’s stored properly, your honey will last well beyond its ‘best before’ date!  

We are currently in the process of making this an option, watch this space!