The best Honey in the World.

The best Honey in the World? How do you define this? In New Zealand we have made ourselves an International reputation for some of the Honey we produce. Manuka Honey In particular .

Manuka honey is produced from the flowers of two New Zealand plants. These are the Manuka and Kanuka trees but are generally referred to as 'Manuka Trees'. These are the New Zealand version of the Tea Tree. Quite a common plant both in New Zealand & Australia.

In fact in New Zealand it is regarded as a major "Scrub weed" and in the early days gangs were employed, "Scrub Cutters", to cut and burn the Manuka before oversowing the burns with grass seed & clover to inmprove the country for grazing stock.

Both the Manuka and Kanuka plants were used by Maori and early European settlers for medicinal purposes. This included using the bark as a poultice, for colds, for flu, and stomach aches.

What has always intrigued me is how Honey sellers could with any confidence identify whether in fact the Honey was Manuka Honey Clover honey or any other plant!! .

Did they instruct the bees to only harvest what they wanted? I had never seen any Bee signs saying "Bees take Manuka only"! I have in Hanmer Springs a good friend who has been a bee keeper for most of his life, (and I might add a very accomplished photographer). Carl has explained to me that the origin of any Honey can be determined by laboratory analysis. Conductivity is a major factor and is an indirect measurement of the mineral content of a honey. Most flower honeys have low mineral content and a low conductivity. Manuka however has a high conductivity.

So to call it "the best honey in the world" there is in fact plenty of practical & scientific evidence to back it up.

Why do I call this the best Honey in the world?

The Manuka honey collected from the White Manuka is different to the Kanuka and is called 'Active Manuka Honey'. That is Manuka Honey with additional antibacterial properties. These special properties are unique to New Zealand Manuka and are quite remarkable.

Most honeys are in some way antibacterial.

But Active Manuka honey has been found to have further antibacterial activity which, unlike other honeys is is more stable and is not affected by light and/or moderate heat. Not all Manuka honey has this special quality and those that do are referred to as "UMF Honey. UMF stands for 'Unique Manuka Factors' and the higher the number the higher the antibacterial activity. This UMF activity can also be identified by testing in an independent laboratory.

Honey has been known for its healing properties for thousands of years.

During the second world war, honey was being used for its antibacterial properties in treating wounds. In the 1980's we had a friend with a bad ulcer on her leg. The usual drugs penicillin etc were making no improvement so our lateral thinking doctor used a dressing with Manuka Honey. To everyone's surprise the ulcer finally healed perfectly. However penicillin and other antibiotic drugs seem to have prevailed in the twentieth century, honey's medicinal qualities have taken a back seat up till now.

But that might be about to change - thanks to one New Zealand based researcher. Working in his Honey Research Unit at the University of Waikato Professor Molan has shown that honey made from the flowers of the manuka bush,, has antibacterial properties over and above those of other honeys.

Mystery ingredient

Professor Molan has said: In Manuka honey there's something else that has not been found in any other honey to date, anywhere else in the world."

So can this be the best honey in the world? I think so.

That "something else" has proved very hard to pin down. Even now, after more than twenty years of research, Peter Molan admits he still has no idea exactly what it is that provides these Manuka honey benefits. But he has given it a name: Unique Manuka Factor, or UMF Honey.

Its antibacterial efficacy can be measured and It works on bacteria, fungi, protozoa. There does not seem to be anything it doesn't work on among infectious organisms.""It has an anti-inflammatory effect as well, so if there are several things apart from actually controlling bacteria in a wound, then that's when Manuka honey could be used.

Manuka Honey Benefits Cancer treatment

I recently read a report by Cancer specialist Dr Glenys Round who has also used honey as an effective treatment for fungating wounds where cancer has broken through the skin, apparently the results have been excellent."

So you may be forgiven for thinking we were to choose "The best Honey in the world on Taste perhaps?

But no, we have chosen New Zealand Manuka Honey as the best Honey in the world, not just on taste for it certainly has a delightful & distinctive flavour, but the best Honey in the world for its outstanding therapeutic qualities.