Manuka Honey

3 products

Our Amazing New Zealand Manuka Honey

Manuka honey is well-known for its natural antibacterial properties and has been used for ailments such as wounds, ulcers of the skin, cold sores, sore throats and stomach health for centuries.

The Manuka plant grows predominantly in Australia and New Zealand. Honey producers place the beehives near the Manuka bushes where bees will collect nectar from the flowers to harvest pure Manuka honey. Manuka flowers come in white and pink, and these colours do affect the taste and texture of the honey that is produced.

Our Source

Nature’s Glory Manuka Honey is harvested from beehives on the South Island of New Zealand, situated on land that is protected by the Department of Conservation. Tourists and heavy industries are prohibited in the area and the beautiful scenery, fresh air and clean water make our honey taste so great.

Our Nature's worker - Bees

Our bees roam freely in the forests and dwell with a family of beekeepers which have been keeping bees for the last five generations. They take great care not to stress the bees but let nature take it's course. Our bees are NOT fed with sugar to make more honey nor treated with antibiotics.

Full Traceability & No Nasties - Certified Organic

Certified organic and independently audited from forest to table. This assures you that our honey is not mixed with other stuff like sugars, additives, cheaper non organic honey to pass off as manuka. (under NASAA organic certification number 8131P).

The REAL Deal - Genuine Grading (UMF vs MGO vs TA)

There are many different ways to grade the quality of Manuka honey, including measurements such as Unique Manuka Factor (UMF), Total Activity (TA) or Methylglyoxal levels (MGO). Due to differing private standards in New Zealand, the government is reviewing a standardized way to classify Manuka honey, including testing for chemical markers and DNA of the Manuka pollen.

This does not, however, stop unscrupulous suppliers from buying the same type of chemicals and adding them into the honey, so as to classify as Manuka. One such example is when the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) stopped the sale of one brand a few years ago, after discovering that chemicals DHA and MGO were artificially added into the honey.

Therefore, for Nature’s Glory Manuka honey, we look at other factors such as Pollen Count and Total Activity levels to classify our honey. Furthermore, our Manuka honey is organically certified by NASAA and AgriQuality NZ (now AsureQuality NZ), enhancing the level of quality standards from harvest to production.

Pollen count and Total Activity (TA)

A small sample of the harvested honey from each batch is sent to a New Zealand government-accredited laboratory to test for these two important parameters:

Pollen count

In the wild, one cannot direct or instruct the bees which plants or flowers they should visit. A honey that is high in Manuka pollen count indicates that the bees have visited mainly the Manuka plants.

Our honey are Pollen tested to have at least 75% Manuka pollen - another test to confirm the purity of the manuka honey and that it is harvested (by the bees) from mainly manuka flowers and not mixed with other honey. This conforms to European standards of classification of Manuka honey.

In general, a pollen count of above 70% Manuka pollen indicates that the honey has been harvested mainly from Manuka bushes. This standard is applied to all kinds of honey exported to European countries.

Total Activity

Total Activity is a test of the antibacterial strength of honeys in killing bacteria and microbes compared to standard percentages of phenol solution in the laboratory. For example, the ratings of TA 15+ shows that the honey has an antibacterial strength of a 15% phenol disinfectant solution. A 25+ or 30+ rating would be equivalent to the antibacterial strength of a 25% or 30% disinfectant solution.

Generally, the higher the TA, the stronger or more effective the honey is in killing bacteria. A research paper in the Department of Agriculture and Food (Western Australia) by Rob Manning describes how this is done.

Total Activity Scale

< 8.2 + : Not detected

8.2+ to 10+ : Low Activity

10+ to 15+ : Medium Activity

> 15+ : High Activity

It is accepted that Total Activity of 10+ or more is regarded as important in the killing of bacteria and germs that cause diseases, for example, Staphylococcus Aureus. The Manuka honey that we sell is rated High Activity (> 15+) and therefore effective against these bacteria.

Nature’s Glory Manuka Honey is tested by New Zealand government-accredited laboratories for TA and is certified organic to International Organic Standards. No sugar, antibiotics or chemicals are added to the honey. We carry the Manuka honey with a TA of 15+ and 30+

Our Manuka Honey - RAW & Unprocessed

No heat pasteurisation or irradiation used to sterilize the honey unlike many honey factories. This is not necessary as honey is naturally anti-microbial and the process may create undesirable by products.

Our Manuka Honey - Lightly Filtered

Lightly filtered into a high quality-premium nutrient-rich honey. Ultra fine and high pressure filtration of honey is carried out by some factories to make the honey look and feel consistent with other batches. However, this REMOVES MANY of the important nutrients including oligosaccharides (important for growth of good bacteria in the gut), propolis (anti-viral properties), pollen (contains high level of B vitamins and minerals).

Maintaining Quality and Purity

Protected in quality expensive Amber glass bottles: Glass (unlike plastic) does NOT react with the multitude of natural chemicals and enzymes found in manuka honey. Hence we believe this to be a better option to preserve the quality and purity of the honey compared to plastic containers.