No it doesn’t! When bees turn nectar into honey they add enzymes and reduce the moisture content of the honey, turning it into one of the most shelf stable products around. As long as your honey is stored in a dry environment without contamination then it should keep for many years.

NZ Food Safety legislation accepts that honey is a shelf stable product and producers are not required to add expiry or best before dates unless they want to. We choose not to as we don’t want to add to any misconception that honey will ‘go off.’

Ofcourse this depends on where you are heading. In most cases yes you can but you do need to keep it unopened and declare it upon arrival. Some countries restrict the quantity you are allowed to bring in. This weight will include the jar weight, e.g. our 375g jar weighs just over 600g. To be sure it’s best to look up the border securiy rules of your destination (as well as any stop overs).

We also recommend travelling with honey in your checked baggage rather than carry on. Honey is considered a liquid so will be subject to maximum quantities in carry on baggage.

The difference is in the processing. Although different producers will process their honey in different ways, some using heat to cream their honey. If you would like to learn about how we process our honey visit our blog posts: ‘From the hive to the jar’ and ‘Creamed vs Raw Honey’ HERE

Yes we do! Jess does most of the beekeeping and all the day to day admin, but it becomes a family affair when we’re harvesting our honey or any other big jobs!

We have only one big harvest per year (season). Bees produce honey seasonally, from Spring to Autumn but with the ‘honey flow’ being December- February. At the end of the honey flow we do a quick hive assessment so we only take what the bees can spare.

This is a tough question to answer!

Every season is different and this affects what flowers well and the bees ability to collect nectar during the honey flow. How much honey we produce is also affected by our hive management, for example if we split hives (make new ones) then we will harvest less as we nurture these hives to grow or if we produce comb honey we will also harvest less. In short, with around 50 hives we will produce somewhere between 300kg and 1300kg of honey per season.

We try our very best to not have to feed sugar syrup to our bees. When we harvest our honey we endeavour to leave more than enough to see them through the winter and into spring when fresh nectar will be available to them again.

But what is most important to us is the heath of our bees! Sometimes the season will mean that nectar sources are late and our bees will run short on food. In which case yes, we will supplement them with sugar syrup to keep them going and get their colony growing.

Rest assured though, by the time we are placing honey boxes on our hives we are not ever needing to feed sugar syrup… so you will never find sugar syrup in your honey!

Yes sometimes we do, bee stings are a part of the job and over time you get used to them!

We do our best to stay calm and careful while working hives and use a smoker to keep the bees calm too.

Our honey is mainly collected from white Clover. Although no honey can ever be one pure nectar source, so we embrace that! Every season is different which means that every harvest of honey is different.

Depending on the season you may also find Vipers Bugloss (borage), Manuka/ Kanuka, native Matagouri, Willow, the list goes on…

Yes, every beekeeper does. Varroa are now widespread in New Zealand and monitoring and control by every beekeeper is now crucial to maintaining beehives’ health.

That is foam! And some may say the best part of the jar of honey…

During processing some air is gets into the honey (both creamed and raw) as it enters the jar. Over time this air rises to the top of the jar and forms a layer of foam.

You may also notice that creamed honey may have a clear layer on top too, this is also normal. Some of the creamed honey has reverted back to liquid which happens over time and is sped up if the jar is exposed to heat (from sunlight).