What is best quality honey
Why Mānuka Honey Is So Expensive | So Expensive
this isn't just any old honey it's
manuka honey and in its purest form it
can cost up to $99 per hundred grams
that's more than a hundred times the
price of normal honey so why is it so
expensive
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manuka honey is known for being earthier
richer and more viscous than many other
honeys it comes from the nectar of the
flower leptospirosis Cap areum
also known as manuka which is only
native to New Zealand and manuka in fact
is a Maori word the fact that it comes
from New Zealand
that gives it a premium just to start
with because the bee travels after about
six kilometres to collect to this honey
and so this honey is representative of
the environment and that environment as
of New Zealand Otero the plant itself
and the honey is very very rare out of
all the honey's in the world it probably
represents 1% of all the world honey's
it's difficult to harvest it's only a
two to six week harvesting period and
the flower is only open for uni for 12
days and in New Zealand we have wind and
we have rain and all the rest of it so
there's a lot of luck involved and
getting the BU or a lot of effort from
the beekeeper and for some years there
are no there is no honey production for
some beekeepers and we have to go to the
big extent also I'm using helicopters to
collect this honey
although manuka bushes can also be found
in Australia New Zealand accounts for
almost all of the world's production
with exports worth 204 million dollars
and expected to quadruple to 800 million
by 2028 New Zealand's honey is protected
by a quality standard there's safeguards
manuka special properties this honey is
an expensive honey and anything that is
expensive people will try and copy
people will try and mimic or people will
try and cheat so a lot of the cost here
isn't actually in the protection of it
or the research so we know it's unique
we know it's from New Zealand we can
identify we fought labs around the world
to be able to do this identification the
New Zealand government has set up a
standard to say what is mono granny
so how does the grading system work and
what exactly are you looking for in
manuka honey we spoke to dr. Adrienne
Charlton from fara science a lab in the
north of England where manuka honey is
tested to identify two unique compounds
as standards we will test for three
compounds dihydroxyacetone which is
owned as DHA we thought also known as
MgO and hydroxymethyl food for all HMF
these are the basic tests that we we
would undertake to make sure that manuka
honey contains the antimicrobial
characteristics that the consumer would
expect we could detect them but we can
also measure the concentration of them
and that's done using UV light to detect
a particular wavelength individual
compounds each compound has slightly
different properties but because of the
issues in the past with potential fraud
there's a suite of other tests included
in Tesla's compound such as left sparing
which is a marker those unique to the
nectar of left spoonski Parian we can
trace then the honey back to its
botanical origin the family came from
when you pick up a jar of manuka honey
the markers can be confusing so how do
you know that it's the real deal so in
some cases their labeling for the
concentration of a compound so mg o 300
would indicate 300 milligrams of me
third world so in that particular pots
of honey per kilogram to NPA which is
non peroxide activity that's that's
related to the method locus of
concentration but it's a more direct
measure at the antimicrobial activity of
deep honey
other other marks such as um f the
quality mark that if you can see a
particular stamp on a product that has
been tested and assured to a certain
standard so that's different to actually
label in it with the concentration of a
particular compound another factor
that's driving up the price is the use
of manuka honey and health and beauty
products its antibacterial and
anti-inflammatory properties are said to
soothe and nourish the skin and it's
also said to help with blemishes and
acne isn't that really the case there's
been a number of studies that have tried
to determine the health benefits of
manuka honey and there are some very
positive results and certainly in terms
of antimicrobial activity we can show
that that the manuka honey has
antimicrobial activity in the laboratory
but those clinical trials over a long
period of time have not been undertaken
today as of yet but there are lots of
reports that indicates manuka honey has
benefits so the jury's still out on
maneuvers medicinal properties but that
hasn't stopped its popularity and manuka
honey is serious business the prices and
demand for the honey is so high that the
New Zealand police have received
hundreds of reports of bee hives or
honey being stolen and even reports of
bees being poisoned
so if you do manage to get your hands on
the jar does it actually taste different
from normal honey that is delicious
the flavors really strong it's very like
very thick compared to normal honey it's
got a kind of chest naughty flavor it's
not as sweet as usual honey it's really
smooth the taste is pretty similar to
what I'm used to the texture is very
interesting it's very very thick always
like creamy is manuka honey really worth
a hundred times more than other honey
that's for you to judge but what's for
certain is that no other honey in the
world is so rare and unique that it
needs to pass by a lab before being sold
you
