Address:

8 Te Kea Place
Rosedale  

Factory Shop Hours:
Monday – Friday 8am – 4.30pm
Saturday – 9am – 4pm
Closed Sundays and Public Holidays.

Phone:   64 9 415 5931
Fax:   64 9 415 0506
Email:   sales@whoney.co.nz

New Zealand Honeys can be divided  by both region and floral source.

New Zealands sharply differing regional climates combined with the natural diversity of floral types ensure honeys are unique with subtle variations of flavour and aroma from region to region. Even New Zealand's family favourite, clover honey is subtly different from region to region.

More than 15 floral honey types are produced commercially. As well as these mono-floral varieties, bee keepers create interesting unique blends. This can be done by either placing hives in certain positions so that the honey bee combines nectars of different flowers or blending honeys in the honey house.

What is the difference?

Firstly, all Manuka honey, both 'active' and ordinary 'table grade' manuka are 100% totally natural as produced by the bees. There are no additives of any sort in Waitemata's range of honies.

Like all other honies, all manuka honey has some anti-bacterial properties. That is, it is active in killing some bacteria. 'Active' manuka honey however, has an extra natural ingredient that is effective against a range of bacteria. This extra natural ingredient is stable to both light and heat, unlike the common anti-bacterial property of manuka honey.  It is this extra natural ingredient which makes the 'active' manuka honey so effective in fighting bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus.

Why is it called UMF® Manuka honey?

Quite simply because the honey was found to be very 'active', or effective at killing some bacteria.

UMF® - What is this?

UMF® is the trademark that licensed manufacturers can put on their 'active' manuka honey. The use of the trademark guarantees the integrity of the product.

What is the number which follows the UMF®, for example UMF®15

There is only a small percentage of the Manuka honey produced in New Zealand each year that is 'active'. It costs more to test for this 'activity' and more money again to pack the honey under strict guidelines laid down by the manufacturer to use the UMF® mark.

 

Ancient cave drawings show that honey has been used for food by man for at least 20,000 years. To many people honey is just a sweet substance collected by bees. Honey is however a complex substance that varies appreciably in its composition.

Honey starts out as a very thin watery sugary fluid known as nectar. Nectar is found in the nectries of plants which are usually located in the base of the flowers.

Nectar varies considerably in its sugar, protein, mineral and water content from one kind of plant to another.

In a honey bee's quest for a single load of honey, she ( yes the honey bee is a female) may visit anything from 500 to 1100 blossoms of a particular species of plant. In her lifetime the honey bee will fly approximately 800 kilometers and produce just 1/2 a teaspoon of honey; it takes approximately 2.5 million kilometers of flying by the bees in a hive to produce 1 litre of honey.

Inside the bee, the nectar is stored in a tiny compartment known as the honey sac. The sac is like a little plastic bag fitted with a one way valve. Stored enzymes and juices in the sac convert the sucrose (disaccharide) into more simple sugars (mono saccharides). It is upon this conversion that nectar becomes known as honey, sonsisting mainly of two simple sugars, dextrose and levulose.

The 'unripe' honey as the honey in the bees sac is called, is passed by the honey bee to a worker at the bee hive. The 'unripe' honey is dried by bees exposing it as a thin film to the warm dry currents in the hive. When no more than 18-20% of water remains the now ripe 'ripened' honey is sealed in a cell with a wax cap; where it is left to mature and finish its pirening process.

At this stage it can be harvested by the bee keeper or eaten by the bee colony as food.