Premium Mānuka
In the summer we take some hives to mānuka fields. Again the farmers here do not spray and the bees fly free to gather mānuka nectar over the short flowering season, in the heat of summer. Mānuka honey takes on the flavours of the region the hives are situated in, much like how a good red wine reflects the ground the vines have grown in.
It is always exciting at harvest time having the first taste. Mānuka honey also contains methylglyoxal, a compound found in most types of honey but usually in only small quantites. In New Zealand mānuka honey the methylglyoxal levels are uniquely high, the higher the concentration of methylglyoxal, the stronger the antibiotic effect.