HI all just out of intrest I wonder if it’s worth me buying direct from a bee keeper of manuka honey, I’m in the UK and I no how good this honey is for me, I tend to buy from eBay when I can grab a bargin now and then, so if any one can help or advice on this would be appreciated
Thanks Richard
I don’t know how competitive it is (I don’t generally buy it) but I’ve tasted this and it’s quite good and certified:
Here’s a direct link to a New Zealand Manuka Honey Supplier. They will be able to export to the UK but you need to be aware that there may be import restrictions as well as VAT etc to pay.
THanks for that I’ll have a look
Thanks
Hi Richard,
There is no doubt that Manuka/Leptospermum and Jarrah honey has some amazing anti-microbial activities, I have to ask if you are using for internal or external use? These honey’s come into their own when used externally for wound healing but have been found to be no different to normal honey when consumed internally.
4 Likes
Hi Rodderick
No I’m using for internal use one to two spoonful a day, with the manuka honey that’s ment to be good for you like no other honey so I’m let to belive ?
So what your saying is its a wast of time no benefits to eat, might as well go down the corner shop and buy cheep one off the shelf, sorry to be blunt but this is a 
bummer if what your saying is correct, I had a hart issue a while ago and was told by a old man manuka and a another honey will be good for me,
Regards Richard
Hi Richard, personally, I would not recommend using a cheap one off the shelf. I’d recommend finding a local beekeeper that can sell you local, raw, unprocessed, unpasteurized honey.
4 Likes
All good honey’s will have the anti-microbial activity that you are requiring and when I say good honey I mean straight from the hive with nothing added. Heating doesn’t matter as this does not affect the manuka properties (anti-microbial). It has been found that all good honey’s have this property as the specific sugars in the honey starves the harmful bacteria in the gut or externally in wounds such as e-coli and staphylococcus. Eating Manuka regularly does not do you any harm but it may be overkill for what you using it for. Where a manuka/leptospermum and jarrah and/or scottish heath honey’s come into their own is their ability to kill bacteria in external wounds which inhibit the healing process. Please do not stop eating these honey’s on my account as they are not doing you any harm.
Also, I have to add that a teaspoon of honey a day is especially good for after an illness or a course of anti-biotics to protect your gut flora and allow it to flourish again.
2 Likes
Heather honey…now you’re talking. I love the taste of that.
By the way, does Manuka honey have to be pressed out like heather?
Thanks Jeffh and Rodderick
Thanks that’s all good info for me regarding this manuka, I think I will keep eating manuka honey as long as I can, or find a good Scottish little home keeper of bees maybe?, I don’t no one as yet in this filed of bee keeping so may take me some time, Rodderick can you help on the Scottish honey a bit more if you can I am intrested to no more, and please anyone else please do advise or help me on this topic 
Thanks Richard
Hi all I’m been looking at this brand of manuka Doctor honey it’s 24+ I have 2 concerns regarding this, one is how can you tell a fake pot of honey to real thing, what to look for? and the second is can someone please tell me with this honey it says it’s 24+ this is a good brand I think, so would this be equal to UMF? Honey can I take it it is what it says on the tin?24+
And I’m only looking to use as 1 tespoon a day
A lot of the benefits of raw honey come from the fact that they are made from pollen/nectar from local plants. That is why they are effective at helping with allergies. So I’d have to agree (while I know very little about manuka) that a raw unfiltered local honey will likely do more of what you are after then a honey from over seas made from plants you are likely to never encounter.
1 Like
Looks like someone has fallen for some clever marketing from the Kiwis. So the UMF is now a registered trade mark for a honey association… IMO it’s over priced and over rated. Give me local honey any day.
And, while I’m on my soapbox, surely a colony aren’t going to solely collect pollen and nectar from one source so how can it be 100% a particular source like jarrah or Manuka? Is it possible to test the honey to tell somehow?
And as blunt and as harsh as Dextershed could be I will miss his input on this forum.
3 Likes
As far as I know UMF is an anti-bacterial measure for honey.
I can’t remember all the facts now. (When I have time I will research it). But I remember buying a local tea-tree honey from the markets, and he said it was also highly “active”, anti-bacterial, etc., it just wasn’t as funded as the Manuka honey. (it was researched by a local university from memory).
I thought it was good that the NZ government funded research into the properties of honey, because all honey isn’t so lucky to get tested (and what I mean by that is - there is a lot of good natural stuff out there, but it’s just not tested, or if it is tested, it doesn’t get out to the public because there isn’t enough backing behind it).
Any who, there’s physical stuff honey does, but some say it’s more than the physical properties of honey that benefits us. Depends how much you want to look into all the energetic, spiritual properties of honey 
(Sorry if that’s a bit “hippyish” for all y’all 
)
I’ve met a few indigenous folks (in Australia) who recommend honey for health, also Italian mothers recommending it, etc., Maybe it’s just one of those things - where if it feels good for you - go for it
Thought you might find this interesting - https://export-x.com/2014/05/29/manuka-honey-mgo-umf-ratings-compared/
Now to research “NON-PEROXIDE ACTIVITY” and “METHYLGLYOXAL”
A recent article where a gentleman here in Australia suffered from a rare strain of bacteria ulcerating into his skin and tissue. He used a combination of anti-biotics and manuka honey to dress the ulcers to suppress the bacteria and get the healing process underway.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/south-east/flesheating-bairnsdale-ulcer-cases-soar-on-mornington-peninsula/news-story/a93b554a09f3e4257203eca4d1c410c9
A genuine manuka seller is Comvita from New Zealand and Capilano Active Honey from Australia.
With heather honey the bees are taken to the moors where there is nothing else. They find foraging on heather hard and would use anything else in preference. They go out strong and come back broodless .
I’ll miss Dexter too. He got the hump, partly, because he wasn’t thanked for advice; happens to me all the time 
2 Likes
Hi Trickybee ,
This is the Captain here ,
Way down the bottom end of mainland Australia !
The Kiwi’s got the jump on us Aussies with marketing , research and development of a natural resource called " Manuka " and it works so well , some unscrupulous souls blend and mix the real stuff with other honey and rebadge it still Manuka . We do the same with concentrated detergent’s and even anti-freeze and still call them detergent’s and anti-freeze . The question is of potency .
The Australian Leptospermum species totals between 80 and 92 dependant on who you read and research . New Zealand only has “TWO " yes 2 species . Current clinical trials are finally underway into Australian Leptospermums ,” hooray" in small letters . Only 200 years after Sir James Cook and Banksy observed the native Aborigines of both Australia and New Zealand using its amazing healing properties to cure all sorts of ailments .
Go back another 2000 years and find the roman soldiers using European honey for the anti-bacterial healing benefits . So we all are a bit slow in the uptake .Penicillin could have killed the use of honey ,now we find in combination with honey ; modern Anti-biotic’s having failed against golden staff suddenly work again .BIG HOORAY .
AUSSIS Leptospermum Polygalifolium ( jelly Bush ) or lemon scented tea tree has been recorded as producing honey of 1750mg/kg of Methyl glyoxal (MGO )
A rating of 10 + or just plain 10 has a killing power against germs of a 10%Phenol ( Carbolic ) Solution . that is the UMF Factor , rare but not unique . Generally speaking it is 8-10 times more bio-active than your " normal " honey . Of course the Methylglyoxal content is measurable in a simple lab test . The other good bits are not and even the best papers I have read allude to the hidden benefits we have not fully understood . Cheers from the herbalists with thousands of empiric success stories , lament to our underfunded lab rats .
1 Like
Gooday again Tricky bee ,
This is the Captain Again , Manuka is derived from Leptospermum Scorioporum and has been researched in New Zealand extensively . It also has withstood vigorous verifications around the world . Its benefits are many with only some accounted for by 'methylglyoxal ’ . To source some in the old dart , I would look at reputable brands with a direct supply line to NZ . Aussies are starting but way behind them over the ditch .
Soon Manuka will be grown around the world as a wonder crop and prices will come down . Spain /Portugal could be potential sites even parts of temperate UK could already be started but you would have to be in the Know to find them and as start ups they may be expensive .
I do not know much about the Scottish heath honey , but if PAM AIRES includes it in a poem it must be good even laced with romancing the stone ! Check it out , local honey is nearly always the best .
I have 6 x Species of Leptospermums I am growing and researching . In about 4 x years I may have some verified answers till then back to the empiric trials -cheers
The Captain
1 Like
@David_Smith or you could do what I have and buy Leptospermum Scorioporum and grow your own