Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)
1–10 of 63 posts
Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)
#2A very partisan write up. I love NZ honey and make a point of buying a particular NZ manuka honey (arataki) when I see it, but the Australian manuka honey is not "cashing in" on the NZ trade, it has existed for decades and medicinal honey for tropical ulcer treatment has existed for decades in Australia.
The decision to award DOC classification was itself a "cashing in" move despite manuka being patently a semi generic term for plants found throughout Australasia.
It was a smart move, and I don't fault them for seeing this as a tactic in a competitive trade market, but lets not pretend there is a substantive difference between the products here.
NZ manuka honey is now also riven by violent gang crime cashing in on the huge profits. Hive stealing is a thing.
Sugerbag, a dark runny native bees honey in Australia is worth more per kg. Designer chefs want it.
Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)
#3A very partisan write up. I love NZ honey and make a point of buying a particular NZ manuka honey (arataki) when I see it, but the Australian manuka honey is not "cashing in" on the NZ trade, it has existed for decades and medicinal honey for tropical ulcer treatment has existed for decades in Australia. The decision to award DOC classification was itself a "cashing in" move despite manuka being patently a semi gener…
there is a lot of hype w/manuka here and i dont think we have ever heard of australian honey here stateside. a lot of honey is malted sweet syrup sadly. i had to label my honey 'gluten free' and 'organic'...both claims are ridiculous, but labeling is such a headache. we do not have AOC type labeling tho'...except for lavender and orange blossom honey etc that have single floral flavours and not blended, then a radius of 5 acres worth should have the same varietal as advertised. entirely ridiculous. bees dont understand borders or labeling. i even got a bottle of poison oak honey. and no, it wasnt the name of the company. wasnt brave enough to try it.
on a slightly diff note: australian father and son duo have come up with flowhive that is the scorn of old fashioned 'beeks' because it seems to make it too easy to collect honey. i do agree that apiary business can be exploitative and with bees on the loser side.
having had colony collapse for a few years and having had to pay for a commissary kitchen to extract honey, the flow hive design seems more and more appealling. the australians certainly understand their bees.
https://www.honeyflow.com/ : i am pretty smitten but false pride to be a 'real beekeeper' stops me from adopting this obviously clever and elegant design. Beek shaming is real! it's a thing.
Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)
#4A very partisan write up. I love NZ honey and make a point of buying a particular NZ manuka honey (arataki) when I see it, but the Australian manuka honey is not "cashing in" on the NZ trade, it has existed for decades and medicinal honey for tropical ulcer treatment has existed for decades in Australia. The decision to award DOC classification was itself a "cashing in" move despite manuka being patently a semi gener…
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-21/native-honeybees-prov... : thanks for the headsup about sugarbag honey! stingless bees even!
[..]Unlike harvesting from a commercial or hobby hive, taking honey from a native sugarbag hive often means the entire colony is destroyed.
But Dr Smith said land clearing, rather than traditional hunting, was the biggest threat to native bee colonies.
He said sugarbag hunting had a minor impact on the overall population of Australian sugarbag bees and the skill should be preserved.
"What a shame it would be to stop having this practice, this culture, that's been going on for thousands of years and is probably one of the longest honey cultures of the world," he said.[..] very interesting. we have many more native bees here in ca than italian honey bees. there is a fallen oak in one of the hiking trails. it was buzzing all the time and the hiker who was with me(and part native american) told me that bees sometimes form hives inside dead hollow trees. and not to tell anyone so they can be undisturbed.
i have a lavender field and also maintain hives. the italian bees are pretty aggressive and native populations have gone down. also..a lot of california native vegetation is actually toxic to italian honey bees. like california buckeye for example. and i think in the south, yellow jessamine. their pollen can kill the italian bees.
thats one of the reasons for bees disappearing too. we also truck in millions of bee cross country for almond pollination which is a bee genocide of a different kind. this is why i feel like if we dont manage habitat we are shooting ourselves in the foot.
Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)
#5> Manuka is a versatile sugar substitute that’s lower on the glycemic index,” he says. “It won’t spike your blood sugar levels immediately in the way white sugar does.”
The sugar in honey is roughly a 50/50 mix of glucose and fructose, there is nothing metabolically special about the sugar. Fructose has a lower glycemic index because it is metabolized first into triglycerides- it may be better for diabetics in some circumstances but has also been blamed for why people drink too much pop, because the glucose fructose sweetening doesnt leave you sated. From a purely sugar perspective, honey is basically HFCS.
Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)
#6A very partisan write up. I love NZ honey and make a point of buying a particular NZ manuka honey (arataki) when I see it, but the Australian manuka honey is not "cashing in" on the NZ trade, it has existed for decades and medicinal honey for tropical ulcer treatment has existed for decades in Australia. The decision to award DOC classification was itself a "cashing in" move despite manuka being patently a semi gener…
This sugarbag honey reminds me of the Melipona honey from Peru that I learned about in (I think it was) a Netflix documentary about fake honey.
Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)
#7I grew up in NZ and find it hilarious when I see a tub of manuka honey in a supermarket in the US. This is the most genius marketing ripoff of all time. Most honey you could buy in NZ back then was either clover honey or manuka honey, it cost about $3 for the same amount, and there was nothing special about manuka honey. Manuka is just teatree, by the way. And all honey has the same antimicrobial properties -- it has nothing to do with hydrogen peroxide and definitely nothing to do with UMF. The reason honey kills microbes is it has exceptionally low water content.
Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)
#8A very partisan write up. I love NZ honey and make a point of buying a particular NZ manuka honey (arataki) when I see it, but the Australian manuka honey is not "cashing in" on the NZ trade, it has existed for decades and medicinal honey for tropical ulcer treatment has existed for decades in Australia. The decision to award DOC classification was itself a "cashing in" move despite manuka being patently a semi gener…
there is a lot of hype w/manuka here and i dont think we have ever heard of australian honey here stateside. a lot of honey is malted sweet syrup sadly. i had to label my honey 'gluten free' and 'organic'...both claims are ridiculous, but labeling is such a headache. we do not have AOC type labeling tho'...except for lavender and orange blossom honey etc that have single floral flavours and not blended, then a radius…
If you've got poisonwood honey.. wait til you try Turkish seasonal... HALLUCINOGENIC honey.. (sorry for clickbaity) which actually exists and is a "thing"
Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)
#9My mate has several barrels of the highest grade manuka honey from the back of his farm. It's very tingy, to the point of being unpalatable.
The sad truth is that most of the commercial manuka honey is nowhere near the purity to get any medicinal benefit, but it tastes much nicer.
Re: Manuka, the World’s Most Coveted Honey (2018)
#10A very partisan write up. I love NZ honey and make a point of buying a particular NZ manuka honey (arataki) when I see it, but the Australian manuka honey is not "cashing in" on the NZ trade, it has existed for decades and medicinal honey for tropical ulcer treatment has existed for decades in Australia. The decision to award DOC classification was itself a "cashing in" move despite manuka being patently a semi gener…
Tasmanian Leatherwood honey also tastes and smells great. Not sure if it's available in the US. Quite a bit cheaper than sugarbag honey.