Manuka Honey

There’s gold in them there hills, the gold we are referring to is Manuka honey.

Throughout history honey has been recognised for its therapeutic benefits especially for topical healing, burns, ulcers, wounds, beauty treatment and our New Zealand Manuka honey has especially been recognised for enhanced characteristics of these proper- ties in addition enhanced antibacterial and microbial benefits.

Manuka honey has been recognised globally as a superfood in a league of its own for its health promoting characteristics both topically and internally; our overall good health is impacted by the type and quality of gut bacteria that affects digestion, overall health and of course our immune response which is so important when considering the health impacts recently to the global spread of covid-19.

Manuka honey has been processed to produce a medical grade product for the purposes described above. We at Silberhorn have been selling natural raw Manuka honey that has been separated from it’s wax cone and packaged, this is the only processing that our product has under gone; thereby preserving its natural health benefits.

Natural honey in this form is crystallised at room temperature when gently warmed is becomes more liquid, most commercially packaged honey has been processed to the state of being creamy.

It is interesting to note the American broadcaster ABC surveyed products sold as Manuka honey, tested it both in New Zealand and Germany and found that 40% of the honey they sampled did not meet the specification and criteria to qualify as Manuka honey.

As a defence against product fraud New Zealand regulates Manuka honey processing and marketing through the Ministry for Primary Industry (MPI) this involves extensive laboratory testing and certification to ensure quality and description of product.

We must always be mindful of the fact that honey is a product harvested from nature by bees flying from the hive to flowering trees and plants.

Apiarists chose a time and place to position their hives to maximise the type of honey collected; honey being a natural product will never be a 100% of any particular flora, so percentages are set to allow description and type to be used when marketing. Attempts have been made to include colour and various other characteristics to be built into the selection process; this appears to be ongoing and evolving, including attempts to establish Manuka as an exclusive registered New Zealand brand.