Steens Manuka Honey

I am fascinated with the healing power of Manuka Honey, as with most things I review if they have certain claims I want to find out more.

Honey in its normal form has long been used for health, we like many households use it for sore throats and colds.

I read that the Egyptians had it as a prescription for ailments,  Aristotle way back in 384-322 BC mentions pale honey "good as a salve for sore eyes and wounds", but until recently it was just standard honey.
Manuka has become a "buzz" (pardon the pun)  word for curing ailments. 

Its used internally for ulcers, heartburn, upset stomachs etc. Applied externally its been discovered to heal war wounds, operation scars, bed sores and old scarring.

I was sent a jar of Steens Manuka Honey Raw 15+  it looks everyday yet holds these great healing properties inside.

Then when I looked at where it originates I didn't really consider the collection of the honey, well as little more than men in big suits and netted headgear sliding out honeycomb trays while bees flew around.

The Manuka honey comes a long way before it arrives in your cupboard.

Its collected from remote places in New Zealand and if you are worried about the environment  at all, Steens thought about it first too.

They are very careful to ensure they make the least impact possible, adopting an almost Mission Impossible style of dropping their hives in via helicopter close to the Manuka bushes.

They say on the site

"Our philosophy is not “Can we get it?” but “How are we going to get it?” The expedition takes us to some of the most remote and untouched areas of New Zealand ensuring the purity of our honey. 

Where trucks can’t be imagined, helicopters are flown in to carry honey and hives from deep within dense bush and off distant craggy mountain ranges.


Collecting pure Manuka from the untouched wilderness is an immense task. We want to minimize our footprint in our beautiful, native forest. So instead of destroying land using bulldozers and other heavy associated machinery to break our way in, our methods cause minimal disruption to our environment. Our beekeepers work 24 hour shifts to bring the harvest home. It’s beyond challenging."

Before I leave you to read the fascinating information on the pot of honey I received to try, I better tell you about the  taste, its a distinctive sweet strong honey, its gorgeous,  no scars or wounds to try it on. Its good for your complexion I believe.

  I feel a little cheeky spreading it on hot buttered toast, but hey the people at Steens worked so hard to get this to my table, I was not going to wait for a sore throat or upset tummy after all that hard graft. Its too scrumptious.

Good Honey. Good Health.

The feel-good factor is hard to find these days so wouldn’t it be amazing to find a natural product that offered health and well being for yourself and your family?

Now thanks to Steens newly launched range of high active Manuka honey you can enjoy all these benefits in one little pot. Described as nature’s perfect super food, it contains nearly every known nutrient required for a balanced diet.

Manuka honey, sourced from bees that feed on the Manuka Bush native only to New Zealand, is versatile enough to be used for everything from good digestion to healing skin conditions and boosting your immune system. What’s more it tastes delicious and can be eaten as an everyday honey.

Manuka honey is famous for its health giving properties and impressive antibacterial elements but not all Manuka honey is the same. Steens raw Manuka honey is the original manuka honey – just as nature intended – unlike other Manuka honeys, which may be reheated, highly processed and denatured. Steens is so special because it is single-source and is loaded with pollen because much of the natural pollens the bees collect are retained during the unique extraction process.

There is no honey more pure than straight from the comb, so Steens created a unique extraction process that delivers honeycomb in a pot. Steens Manuka honey is collected from the most remote and untouched areas of native New Zealand and harvested and packaged at hive temperature, ensuring the purity and quality of the honey.

There is a totally transparency about the antibacterial quality of Steens Manuka honey with each batch tested by an independent laboratory to determine its unique antibacterial levels.

Steens Manuka honey can be used to treat everything from scrapes and wounds to disease and digestive issues. It is great for the overall health and well-being, including boosting a lustrous and immaculate complexion.

Manuka honey is rated according to its bio active properties; the more antibacterial the higher the rating (e.g. a Raw 15+ has more antibacterial properties than a Raw 5+).

Steens Manuka Honey (in Raw 5+, Raw 10+ and Raw 15+) is available in Waitrose stores nationwide from 28 March in 340g jars, priced from £8.50.

The Steens Difference

Further information about the company and production policies

 

Steens believe that natural, raw Manuka honey can be produced ethically without compromising the flavours, textures, colours or goodness. During harvest hive temperatures are replicated for the entire process – from extraction and transportation to testing and bottling. Less heat means no nasty by-products and retention of all of the honeys natural goodness. Steens Manuka honey is unprocessed, unpasteurised, unheated and from a single source.

Steens Manuka honey is independently tested for its antibacterial properties by the best industry method available. This process is approved by the New Zealand Food Safety Authority and tests the efficacy of Steens production to the highest industry standards.

Unique track and tracer system - Hive Tracker

In-house track and trace system (Hive Tracker), delivered via global satellite positioning, gives Steens a capability that is a world first. Hive Tracker enables extensive monitoring of bee-hives, honey sites, hive components, field activities, disease monitoring, inventory control, genetics and weather conditions.

Every piece of equipment has an individual barcode and each bee-keeper has a hand-held scanner that retrieves information which is then synchronise back to head-office daily, where the information is analysed and interpreted. Steens use Hive Tracker to continually inspire its business and better its systems.

http://www.steensnewzealand.com/home.html