Luxury buzzes around bees

It is necessary the work of hundreds of bees that will fly around to gather nectar from hundreds of thousands of flowers to obtain a single kilo of honey. Muria family, devoted to beekeeping since 1810, may have thought that the sweet product born after such a big effort deserves the consideration of a luxury product. They launched their premium honey collection artMuria, a selection of four varieties of maximum quality honey (Rosemary, Orange, High Mountain and Forest). The beautiful amber shine of the honey is enhanced by minimalist jars containing 40, 170 and 440 grams.

“Our honey has a pollen content up to three times bigger to what is required by legal regulations and this is a good indicator of its quality”, says Rafael Muria, owner of the company SAT Limitada Apícola El Perelló, known as Mel Muria. He belongs to the fifth generation of the family working in apiculture in Perelló (Tarragona), a town with a long tradition in honey production.

For its artMuria collection, the Catalan brand uses 30 000 kilo from its annual production, which raises to 150 000 kilo, selecting honey of highest quality harvested in the 2000 hives that the company has in Pyrenees mountains, Catalonia and Levant. Each of the hives can give shelter up to 80 000 bees in the blossoming period. The company year income reaches one million euro and aims to increase the present turnover by 50% percent thanks to the new line of gourmet honey, launched six months ago and that is already distributed in France, Germany and United Kingdom.

In Harrods, where artMuria will be sold very soon, this Spanish honey –Spain is the biggest honey producer in Europe- will have to compete with other premium honeys from different places around the world. The Greek brand Melitheon is a good example: this honey condenses the virtues of the mythological Arcadia region, place for more than 1500 varieties of flowers. Tahi Manuka, a firm from New Zealand, sells honey made from the white flowers of Manuka tree, used in traditional Maori medicine. Beautiful violet Ambroso jars, an organic brand from Austria, keep the magical result of alliance between bees and woods located around Vienna.

Now it is the time to open the jars of the varieties of artMuria to discover the taste and emotions they can provide us:

• Rosemary Honey: during March and April, this honey made from the blue and violet flowers of Rosemary is collected, being the first one to be harvested. With floral notes, it has a soft sweet flavor with subtle acid notes.
• Orange Honey: A clean honey, with a distinctive clear amber tone, this honey has the vigorous citric aroma of the orange blossom.
• Forest Honey: when the day turns longer around summer solstice, it is time to harvest this product born from the buzz of bees in holm oak and oak forests. This honey has a dark amber color, salty notes and intense toasted cereal aroma.

• High Mountain: At the end of Spring, the high medows of the Pyrynees are covered with small flowers, a colorful and ephemeral dye which bees take benefit from to produce an intense honey with reddish tones, herbaceous aromas and acid hints.At the moment in Spain you can buy online artMuria honey in nougatic.com and in 20 delicatessen shops in different cities, such as Vera in Palma de Mallorca and Colmado Murria in Barcelona. Price of the small jar containing 40 gr. of honey is 2.95 €; ,Medium size with 70 gr., 10.90 €; and the biggest jar with 440 gr., 18.90 €. The brand sells as well beautiful black boxes. Price of the box containing 4 medium size jars –one of each variety of honey- is 59.90 €.