Beech Honey Dew

New Zealand Honeydew comes from the South Island beech forests and is therefore naturally organic as it is not gathered from cultivated land. It contains higher antioxidant, antibacterial activity levels, mineral content and greater nutritional and therapeutic benefits than most flower honeys.   Honey dew has a slightly woody, malty flavour and is a dark amber ranging to almost black in colour. 

Honey dew is different from other honeys because it doesn't come from plant nectar but from the secretions of an insect! Small scale insects that live within the bark of beech trees feed on the sap of the tree. This sap has more sugar than the insect requires so it secretes the excess through its anal tube. This secretion provides food for birds, bees and other insects. Unfortunately, wasps have also found this an excellent food source and have increased dramatically in the beech forests.

New Zealand Honeydew is one of our premium honey exports to Europe. Europeans have enjoyed the health benefits and strong malty flavour of honeydew for hundreds of years from their beech and pine forests. In other parts of the world, Honeydew is also known as Forest Honey, Pine Honey or Fir Honey.

Honeydew does not usually crystallize as other honeys do due to lower levels of glucose and fructose supplemented by higher levels of more complex sugars such as maltose, erlose and melizetose. These complex sugars add to Honeydew's health benefits by feeding probiotic (beneficial) bacteria in our gut. Further health benefits are also due to the extra enzymatic actions in the sap-sucking insects gut. As well as the naturally occurring sooty moulds on the beech, this contributes to an additional mineral and trace element content not found in floral honeys.

Honeydew, along with Manuka, Thyme and Rewarewa have the highest levels of antioxidants of all New Zealand honeys. The high degree of antibacterial activity in Honeydew often exceeds levels found in Manuka honey.

Raw honey is honey as it comes, straight from the hive. It has not been processed or filtered or pasteurized or heated above 37° C.

Raw honey contains health-giving enzymes, antioxidants and pollen that micro-filtering and pasteurization removes.