Blog

Bee Aware month is the perfect time to reflect upon the importance of honey bees in our gardens and our lives.  We New Zealanders enjoy a very special relationship with the humble honey bee — we need look no further than the Buzzy Bee, that charmingly noisy toy which has been following Kiwi kids about ever since the 1930s, for evidence of our strong affection for these tiny creatures. Of course there are some very important reasons for this enduring endearment.  These buzzy pollinators play a hugely significant role in supporting New Zealand’s wide range of agricultural and horticultural activities, from the tiniest garden to the largest commercial enterprise.  Next time you go shopping, take a moment to think about it — there is a very strong possibil

A beekeeper does far more than just produce honey. They also have a responsibility to protect their hives and ensure they’re healthy and safe from diseases such as American Foulbrood disease (AFB) – which affects the honeybee larvae and pupae and is prevalent worldwide. In New Zealand AFB it is the most serious honeybee disease beekeepers need to manage.  What is American Foulbrood Disease? American Foulbrood (or AFB) is a highly infectious bee disease caused by the bacterium Paenibacillus larvae. AFB exists in two forms (the spore form and the vegetative form), both of which are microscopic in size. These spores can survive outside a honeybee colony for over 35 years and can withstand very high temperatures, including boiling water. When a hive becomes infe

Looking to the future of New Zealand’s beekeeping industry, the priority is looking after our honeybees, and making sure they are in an environment where they can thrive.  “The honeybees are the most important thing,” according to Murray Elwood, co-owner of Mountain Valley Honey. “If you’re a good beekeeper, your priority is looking after your bees and making sure they’ve got enough honey year-round, as well as keeping them healthy.” When Murray first started beekeeping, beekeepers were in the business simply for the love of it.  “It was very hard to make a living out of beekeeping, and to do so you had to be very switched on.”  Beekeepers also respected the sites of other beekeepers and gave everyone a decent amount of space between api

Bees are major pollinators that contribute greatly to the world’s environment and food production. However, our humble honey bees are becoming increasingly endangered due to disease, pests, urbanization and climate change, among other factors.  So, we all need to do our bit to protect honey bees and their habitats. Here’s five easy things you can do to help… 1. PLANT A RANGE OF FLOWERS Plant a diverse range of flowers and ensure they bloom successively to ensure there is something for the bees to forage all year-round.  The more flowers the better – and your garden will look lovely too! Honey bees are especially drawn to purple, blue, yellow and white flowers with a single row of petals to make the nectar easier to access.  Honey

We are giving away packs of Wildflower seeds to help make your garden ‘bee-friendly’ in celebration of Bee Aware month this September. Every $50 you spend* gets you a FREE packet of Wildflower seeds made of a carefully selected blend of seed-grown flowering plants that are high in nectar and pollen that bees love and thrive on.  The Wildflower mix is put together by Kingseeds, and is suitable for our NZ conditions. The seed mix includes Rudbeckia, Thyme, Red Clover, Phacelia, Echium, Salvia, Cornflower and European Poppy. Here are some steps to make your garden blooming beautiful in no time: Choose a good spot that gets all day sunPrepare the soil for sowing by removing unwanted vegetation and rough up the surface of the soil. Wildflowers don’t need large amounts of

Every September we join Honey Lovers around New Zealand to celebrate the humble honeybee and everything they do.  Bee pollination plays an important role in our agriculture and horticulture, not to mention they keep our gardens beautiful. One of the best things you can do for our buzzy friends is plant a wide variety of flowers in your garden.  The Pohutukawa tree which is also called the New Zealand Christmas tree is in full bloom around Auckland and bees are loving these red flowers Free Wildflower Seeds We’re giving away a free packet of wildflower seeds for every $50 you spend in September. Every $50 (exc. postage) you spend in a single order gets you a pack of seeds included free with your order. Spend $100 and get two packets, spend $150 and get t

A sweet spin on a Kiwi classic and a yummy weekend treat to share with the family. Using Kāmahi Honey, this recipe is great for both pancakes and pikelets. Kāmahi honey has an intense full-bodied flavour, like molasses or burnt toffee, which makes for a perfect caramel sauce. Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 20 minutes Makes about 8 pancakes Apple Pancake Ingredients: 1 ½ cups standard white flour1 tsp. baking powder1 ¼ cups milk½ cup yoghurt2 eggs1 cooking apple, gratedGhee or butter for cooking Cinnamon Honey Caramel Sauce Ingredients: 50g butter2 Tbsp. MVH Kāmahi Honey1 tsp. cinnamonPinch of salt1 Tbsp. lemon juice Method Place the flour and baking powder into a bowl and use a whisk to combine and aerate. Pour in the milk and yoghurt a

Ingredients: 4 Tbsp. olive oil3 Tbsp. MVH Kāmahi Honey6 large parsnips, chopped into long strips5 cloves garlic, peeled1 onion, diced750ml vegetable stock1 can coconut milkSalt + pepper to seasonParsley, finely chopped Method: Pre-heat oven to 180°C.In a small saucepan, mix olive oil and honey in a pot and heat slowly until runny. Place parsnips and garlic in large mixing bowl and coat with the honey mixture and salt and pepper. Place on a lined baking tray and cook for 45 minutes or until golden.In a large sauce pan, add a dash of olive oil and add onions. Cook until soft and fragment. Add Vegetable stock and coconut. Add roasted Parsnips and garlic and bring to boil. Turn off the heat. Using a stick blender, blend into a smooth consistency. Season with salt and pepper to

Kāmahi honey deserves to be celebrated for its unique flavours that pair deliciously with all kinds of foods. Kāmahi honey comes from the Native New Zealand Kāmahi flower, which is white and spikey. The Kāmahi trees can grow up to 25 metres tall. We’re lucky enough to be able to harvest our Kāmahi honey locally in the Marlborough Sounds and the Mt. Richmond Forest Park. Kāmahi honey is a rich, golden colour and has a smooth, soft texture followed by an intense full-bodied flavour, like molasses or burnt toffee. Being a fragrant honey, it pairs deliciously with fresh fruit and creamy white mould cheeses, such as Brie and Camembert. The ideal accompaniment to a cheese platter. Kāmahi honey also makes a great base to sweet sauces, whilst being a perfect balancer

Mountain Valley Honey is excited to announce we now have beeswax back in stock! Beeswax can be described as the honeybees building material, like wood or brick for humans. It is produced by the worker bees, who use four pairs of glands under their abdomen and is produced when they gather nectar. Worker bees then use it to build the honeycomb to store the nectar in. Pure beeswax is white, but can become yellow or orange, due to natural staining from the pollen and propolis gathered when the beeswax is being produced. The colour also varies depending on the type of nectar source the bees are gathering. Our beeswax blocks are made from the wax left over at the end of the extraction process, where the wax is separated from the honey. We melt it down and pour it into moulds to

A yummy twist on a classic winter warmer. Ingredients: 1/3 cup MVH Autumn Gold Honey 1/3 cup olive oil or coconut oil (melted) 3 large bananas, mashed  ½ tsp. vanilla paste 2 large free range eggs P.inch of salt 1 tsp baking soda 100gm dark chocolate (70%), roughly chopped ¾ cup coconut thread ¾ cup ground almonds   ½ cup gluten free flour ½ cup frozen raspberries Method: Preheat oven to 170°C and line a loaf tin with baking paper. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the oil, honey and vanilla until emulsified. Add the eggs and whisk again to combine. Stir through the mashed banana then add the baking soda and salt. Stir again. Now carefully fold through the chocolate, coconut thread, ground almonds and flour. Do not over mix. Pour the batter

Mānuka Honey is known and loved in New Zealand and internationally for its antibacterial properties and the benefits it has for our health. However, Mānuka’s cousin, Kānuka, is making headway as a topical treatment for a variety of skin conditions that flare up over the winter months. Mānuka is a great topical treatment for wound dressings and burns. But studies show that Kānuka’s unique antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties makes it an effective treatment for skin conditions such as eczema, rosacea, acne, and in recent studies, coldsores. Kānuka flowers. Kānuka honey comes from a native New Zealand tree, similar to Mānuka, and has high levels of hydrogen peroxide, that naturally creates these antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. The hydro