The Potency of Raw Manuka Honey

Discover the renowned health benefits of raw Manuka Honey from New Zealand. 

Manuka Honey truly is a natural wonder and one of the most versatile and delicious ways to help support your body. Renowned for its unique flavor, Manuka Honey contains more than 2,000 different compounds ¬– over 20 times more than other types of honey.

And just like most things from the wild, the less you interfere with it, the better! Continue reading to discover why trusting in our bees (and good old Mother Nature) to do the right thing, delivers some of the highest quality, most authentic raw Manuka honey on the planet.

What is raw Manuka Honey?

To put it simply, raw Manuka Honey is honey just ‘as it exists in the beehive’. Not only is it sourced naturally from the hive, it’s also unpasteurized (meaning it hasn’t been heated past the point that can affect its renowned natural properties). ‘Raw’ also means that no other ingredients have been added, such as sugar, water or chemicals.

Raw honey is simply strained before it's bottled, which means it retains almost all of the beneficial nutrients and antioxidants that nature (and its bees) created. Some brands of honey may undergo a variety of processes, which can remove or lessen its beneficial nutrients and reduce the level of antioxidants – but not Comvita raw Manuka Honey!

Authentic Raw Manuka Honey is sourced from the nectar of the Manuka flower in New Zealand’s pristine forests. Comvita Manuka Honey is raw, wild, unpasteurized, Non-GMO Project Certified, halal, kosher, and certified gluten-free and glyphosate residue-free. In other words, it’s as pure, potent and natural as honey can get.

Manuka Honey contains a unique range of beneficial oligosaccharides and prebiotics, amino acids, polyphenolic and other plant-derived compounds. In the case of Comvita Manuka Honey, it’s also fully traceable, from hive to shelf.

Comvita has been supplying quality raw Manuka Honey to the world since 1974, from our hives to your home.

Why is Manuka honey so expensive compared to other honey? 

Manuka Honey is harvested by honeybees (Apis mellifera) from the nectar of the Manuka tree (Leptospermum scoparium), which is indigenous to New Zealand. Unlike most other varieties of honey which can be collected throughout much of the year, bees only have a short window of time to collect the precious nectar needed to make Manuka Honey, making it an expensive resource.

For just a few weeks, when the Manuka trees blossom, our very busy bees work their magic. In addition to a short bloom window, native Manuka flowers are only found in specific microclimates in its native New Zealand - often in the most isolated hills, fields, and forests (-in fact, some hives are only accessible by helicopter!).

This wild plant is very sensitive to changes in climate and weather, pollution, and other human interference, so the further away the Manuka plant is from human contact, the healthier the Manuka flower, bee colonies, and Manuka Honey.

No wonder raw Manuka Honey is so prized and precious.

Manuka Honey also has a distinctive taste and color which intensifies as the level of purity increases (measured by its UMF rating). From New Zealand's rugged central North Island volcanic plateau to the bush-clad hills of Northland, there are many factors that can affect the quality of Manuka Honey – it's a natural product, so the sun, wind, and rain all play a part. Every jar tells its own unique story of that season.

What quality standards are in place for raw Manuka Honey?

Comvita’s Raw Manuka Honey may come to you just as nature intended, but don’t worry, stringent quality checks and standards are also in place to ensure you’re getting the most authentic, highest quality raw product.

Every batch of Comvita Manuka Honey is tested and certified in our ‘Nature Labs’ New Zealand’s only internationally accredited honey laboratories. Our raw Manuka Honey undergoes more than 34 separate tests to ensure its purity and efficacy.

Not only that, It also carries the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF™) trademark of the UMF Honey Association, which independently certifies the quality of Manuka Honey and validates its authenticity, freshness, purity and quality.

Only UMF measures the four signature compounds (Leptosperin, DHA, HMF and MGO) found in genuine, monofloral Manuka Honey.

Many other popular Manuka products without UMF certification are branded with marketing terms like ‘factors’ and ‘bio-actives’. These terms can be confusing, so we recommend using UMF ™ as your guide to the quality, purity, and potency of Manuka Honey. As a world leader in Manuka Honey, nearly 50 years of beekeeping science, knowledge and care is lovingly bottled into every jar.

What are the benefits of raw Manuka Honey?

Raw Manuka Honey from New Zealand is nothing like other types of honey. Local wildflower honeys and conventional clover honeys may always have a place in your cupboard, but Manuka Honey contains up to 20 times the individual natural compounds, giving it a range of properties that are unique to Manuka Honey.

It is truly nature’s most powerful honey, so why not start enjoying the unique and special qualities of Comvita Manuka Honey – raw, wild, unpasteurized, and absolutely the real deal.

FAQs

How is raw Manuka Honey different from regular honey?

For honey to be legally labeled as ‘Manuka Honey’, it must be predominantly collected from the nectar of New Zealand Manuka flowers (Leptospermum scoparium). Authentic Manuka Honey is a ‘mono-floral’ honey that contains unique and beneficial compounds, which are lab tested to determine its purity and potency.

Importantly, raw Manuka Honey is unpasteurized (so it retains its natural properties), with nothing added so you can enjoy its magic straight from the source – just as nature intended.

Why is raw Manuka Honey more expensive?

Genuine Manuka Honey comes from the Manuka flower, a scarce and natural resource found only in New Zealand Manuka flowers only bloom for a short time (roughly 2-6 weeks a year) and is incredibly sensitive to seasonal weather conditions. So, as you can imagine, it takes immense skill, planning and resources to harvest even small quantities of Manuka Honey.

What’s more, no other honey has the volume, complexity or potency of natural properties found in genuine Manuka Honey, including amino acids, vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, and bioactive compounds.

What are the grading systems for Raw Manuka Honey?

The simplest way to ensure the Manuka Honey you’re buying is authentic is to look for the UMF^TM (Unique Manuka Factor) quality mark on the label. This is most comprehensive, independently certified, and internationally recognized quality assurance system available.

While MGO is another grading system used by some honey producers, UMFTM certification is the only quality and rating system that independently certifies the presence and quality of the four key natural components that make New Zealand Manuka Honey unique. You can compare the different Manuka ratings.

How can raw Manuka Honey be used?

There are so many ways to use Raw Manuka Honey. It’s delicious (and nutritious) eaten by the spoonful. It’s also scrumptious spread on toast, bread or croissants, drizzled on cereals, oats, pancakes or over a salad, blended into a smoothie, or stirred into a cup of herbal tea. You can even use it as a natural form of skincare!

To soothe sore or dry throats, many people stir a spoonful of raw Manuka Honey and a squeeze of lemon juice into warm water (the higher the UMF™ grading the better). Remember to ensure that the water isn’t too hot, as high temperatures can affect the unique, natural properties of raw, unpasteurized Manuka Honey.