Honey Types That Can Be Found in New Zealand
A well-loved staple in every New Zealand household, honey is proven to have a wide range of uses. Whether it’s eaten on toast, used as an alternative to sugar, applied topically for faster wound healing or used to treat coughs and colds, raw honey is a true natural wonder.
The variety of honey depends on the source of its collection, with each raw honey offering its own unique taste due to naturally occurring differences in the nectar and pollen.
New Zealand is lucky to have a diverse native flora that produces a wide range of delicious honeys unique to our country. Each honey has its own distinctive characteristics, providing a range of unique tastes and beneficial properties.
Here are the most common types of honey you can purchase in New Zealand.
Mānuka Honey
Known for its unique antibacterial properties, mānuka honey has become a worldwide phenomenon. Foraged from the flowers of the mānuka tree, Leptospermum scoparium, mānuka honey is the most in-demand floral variety of honey in the world.
Mountain Valley’s Mānuka Honey is foraged in the beautiful Marlborough Sounds, Marlborough region and Mt. Richmond Forest Park area in the top of the South Island of New Zealand.
Whether it’s sold here in New Zealand or sent overseas, our Mānuka Honey is independently tested and certified to pass the strict MPI guidelines for export quality mono-flora Mānuka. This involves testing the honey for certain levels of 5 different attributes to ensure it is genuine, mono-floral mānuka honey.
Kāmahi Honey
The Kāmahi tree (Weinmannia racemosa) is the most abundant native forest tree in New Zealand and is located from the central North Island to the tip of the South Island.
Kamahi Honey has hints of caramel and burnt toffee, which make it the perfect sweetener for coffee. As a cooking ingredient, Kamahi Honey makes for an ideal sweetener to spicy dishes, which is perfect for lovers of Thai or Indian Food. It has a unique mix of floral and nutty flavours that enhance the taste of fresh fruits and creamy cheeses like Brie or Camembert.
Beech Honeydew
Unlike most honey, Beech Honeydew doesn’t come from a floral source. Often called ‘forest honey’, honeydew is produced by small insects that live within the bark of native New Zealand beech trees, which is then collected by bees to make honey. Because honeydew doesn’t contain any pollen, it won’t crystalise like other raw honeys.
It has a dark amber colour and a strong caramel taste and has some of the highest levels of antioxidants compared to other New Zealand honeys. It also contains oligosaccharides, a powerful prebiotic that supports probiotic bacteria, which helps maintain a healthy gut. It also contains enzymes and vitamins that can be a great addition to any diet, and the highest amount of minerals compared to other New Zealand honeys.
Clover Honey
Lightly coloured with a sweet, buttery taste, Clover Honey is one of the most popular honeys in New Zealand. That is likely due to the abundance of clover plants and the fact that bees absolutely love clover!
Like most raw honey, clover honey is rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants and has antibacterial properties, as exhibited in one study which found clover honey had the strongest antibacterial of 16 other floral honeys tested. While Clover honey is perfect on toast with butter, you can also use it to sweeten your tea or coffee.
Kānuka Honey
Unique to New Zealand the kānuka tree (Kunzea ericoides) is a member of the myrtle family of trees and so is a cousin of Mānuka. It is no wonder that Kānuka Honey is such a special honey with its own unique health benefits.
Research suggests that kānuka honey has strong antibacterial properties due to high levels of hydrogen peroxide and studies have shown that applying kānuka topically can be an effective treatment for rosacea, cold sores and psoriasis.
Conclusion
Home to over 2,500 hives across the top of the South Island of New Zealand, Mountain Valley Honey is a great place to buy raw honey that is unpasteurised. Our honey comes in an incredible range of tastes.
If you’re a honey newbie looking to buy raw honey online in New Zealand, get in touch with us to experience our stunning variety of flavours!